Back issues keep Wakefield off roster

The last time Tim Wakefield was left off a postseason roster, it felt like a knife in the back. This time, it was just a cortisone shot, but the outcome was the same.

When the Red Sox line up to face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Game 1 of their American League Division Series tonight, Wakefield will be in uniform but he won't get past the pregame introductions. The 41-year-old knuckleballer, whose 13 seasons with the Sox easily give him the longest tenure of any player on the roster, had an injection after his start last Saturday to relieve discomfort in his back, a condition that caused him to be shut down for 11 days beginning late in August and continued to bother him in September, when he was 1-2 with an 8.76 ERA in five starts.

Injury issues had an even more significant impact on the Angels' roster. Center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., the team's best defender, has been scratched from the series because of patellar tendinitis in his left knee.

"Eight years, and never played in a playoff game," a disconsolate Matthews said yesterday. "I'm not the happiest camper on earth right now."

Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero will be limited to DH duty for at least the first couple of games because of triceps tendinitis in his throwing arm, while erstwhile ace Bartolo Colon, whom manager Mike Scioscia had hoped to use out of the bullpen, had to be scratched because of recurring elbow problems.

"We all know Wake, he bleeds for us, but he understands it's the right thing to do," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who announced Wakefield's status after the pitcher had finished yesterday's workout at Fenway Park.

Wakefield was not among the three Sox pitchers scheduled to start in this series - Josh Beckett goes tonight, followed by Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling. But Francona said he had planned to include Wakefield in his complement of 10 pitchers on the 25-man roster for the series, which must be filed by 10 this morning. Instead, lefthander Jon Lester took Wakefield's spot.

"Lester will be available to give us length if we need it," said Francona, who also will have the lefthander available for any circumstance that would require a fourth starter in this best-of-five series, which is scheduled to be played over an eight-day span.

Wakefield, who was outraged when he was left off the team's roster for the 1999 ALCS - a decision he has long blamed on former GM Dan Duquette - was gone by the time Francona announced his roster yesterday. Francona said the hope is that the rest will allow Wakefield to be activated if the Sox advance in the postseason.

"I think we fully expect that he will be available as a starter," Francona said.

Julian Tavarez and Kyle Snyder, who had been on the staff all season, will join Wakefield on the sidelines for this series.

"That's OK," Tavarez said. "As long as we get the ring and the big check."

Snyder was more analytical.

"This is going to be more of a specialist-oriented staff," he said, "especially in the first series. I don't necessarily see me fitting as a piece, because I'm not geared specifically to a role. I understand choices need to be made."

By going with fewer pitchers than they carry in the regular season, the Sox were able to add as reserves rookie outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Cash, a third catcher whose presence on the roster is directly tied to Ellsbury.

"We want Ellsbury to be able to impact games, if needed, and that can mean running for a number of different people," said Francona, who with a third catcher could have Ellsbury run for Jason Varitek, knowing he'd have a catcher in reserve in case something happened to backup Doug Mirabelli. "He's got the kind of speed that can change a game. We can have Ellsbury play the outfield the last couple of innings, if need be."

The speed game is the province of the Angels, who have just one player, Guerrero, who hit 20 home runs (27) or drove in 90 runs (125) this season. "The whole key is keeping those waterbugs off the bases," said one American League scout, referring to Chone Figgins and rookie Reggie Willits, who stole 41 and 27 bases, respectively.

The Angels do not match up statistically with the Sox, who had the league's best record for the first time since 1986 and the majors' best record for the first time since 1946, and whose run differential of plus-210 (867 for, 657 allowed) is the biggest since the Mariners' plus-300 in 2001, when they won a record-tying 116 games.

The Angels also fare much better at home, where they had the league's best record (54-27). Lackey, a 19-game winner with a league-best ERA of 3.01, was 0-2 with an 8.38 ERA against the Sox this season. In his last start at Fenway, when he was tagged for six runs in the first inning, he could clearly be seen on the NESN telecast mouthing the words, "[Expletive] this place."

But former Angel Brendan Donnelly warns that Lackey is very much like Beckett, the Sox' 20-game winner who limited the Angels to two earned runs in 13 innings over two starts this season.

"They both compete, it means everything to them to win," Donnelly said. "When they're out there, they both snap once in a while, which is fine, just don't hurt yourself. Lackey, he won Game 7 of a World Series as a rookie. He's one of my boys. I want him to lose, 1-0."

Lackey downplays the Fenway factor.

"I think this time of year, it doesn't matter where you are," he said.

Then again, maybe it does. Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera, a fan favorite in Boston when the Sox won the World Series in 2004, remembers what it was like.

"It can mean a lot," Cabrera said of playing here. "Fans can really make a difference in this park. It's the whole thing. You lose focus for one moment, and they're all over you, scoring a lot of runs."