Francona tries to clarify Wakefield's injury

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff  |  October 4, 2007

That back injury that has sidelined Tim Wakefield for the American League Division Series? Red Sox manager Terry Francona amended his description of the injury yesterday, saying it was in the "back of the shoulder."

Wakefield, the 41-year-old knuckleballer who hopes to pitch in the AL Championship Series if the Sox advance, did not offer much more on the injury, other than to acknowledge it was "shoulder, upper back, posterior muscle." Inflammation in the posterior of the shoulder is not uncommon for pitchers, and is often treated with cortisone shots if the inflammation cannot be controlled by less potent medication.

While posterior shoulder conditions can involve the rotator cuff, the cluster of muscles that hold the ball of the shoulder in place, Wakefield said there was no rotator cuff involvement in his condition. He said a cortisone shot administered Sunday helped "a little bit."

Francona, on being fuzzy on the details: "Sometimes during a year, I don't feel the need to expound on things that put our guys in not the best position to succeed. It's back here [placing his hand on the back of his shoulder]. You can call it shoulder, you can call it back. We've been calling it 'back' the whole time. I don't know that that's important. It's been bothering him for a while. He's pitched a lot of innings [189]. This year, if you look back, everybody pretty much had a break but Wake. Whether it's [Curt Schilling] . . . he had a break. Even [Josh] Beckett with the avulsion, Daisuke [Matsuzaka] we backed up a couple times. Because Wake never did, I think the innings catch up. I think you hope they don't, but I think it's almost somewhat unrealistic at times when guys have piled up that amount of innings. That's just the way the game is."

Wakefield was scratched from one start at the end of August, opening a spot for rookie Clay Buchholz, who threw a no-hitter.

A short outing

Some members of the Japanese media were perturbed by the manner in which Game 2 starter Matsuzaka handled his pregame interview session, giving terse and virtually unusable answers. According to one Japanese reporter, Matsuzaka, who threw a side session earlier, was not happy about being hustled to the interview room afterward. As it was, he was late for his session, which didn't last long.

Sample exchange:

Q. "Can you compare working with Jason Varitek this year compared to other catchers that you've had throughout your career?"

Matsuzaka: "I think that in comparison, he is very, very observant, and that is the only thing I'd say about 'Tek."

Japanese media members, who have covered the Sox in force this summer, have become increasingly frustrated as their access to Matsuzaka and reliever Hideki Okajima has diminished as the season progressed. But that hasn't caused interest in Matsuzaka to decrease, especially after he pitched last Friday night, when the Sox clinched the AL East.

Harvard history professor Andrew Gordon, whose specialty is Japanese history and who recently completed a book on Matsuzaka that has been published in Japanese, noted that Nikkan Sports devoted four pages to Matsuzaka and the postgame champagne celebration.

Francona was asked if he was curious to see how Matsuzaka would perform on the postseason stage, given his track record in international competition.

"I'd say more than curious," Francona said. "I think that has not been an issue with us. I think we have enjoyed watching the way he has handled certain things that have been thrown at him. And we've all seen the bumps in the road, the hiccups in some of the outings. But being intimidated or shrinking from a challenge won't be one of them. We feel that is really one of his strengths. And he's got a lot of them, but I think this stage will be a good place for him to show what he can do."

Gordon's book is entitled, "The Unknown Story of Matsuzaka's Major League Revolution." It sounds catchier, he said, in Japanese.

Daigo Fujiwara, the Globe's resident Daisuke-ologist, notes that while Matsuzaka is celebrated for his win over Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, his postseason record in the Japan Series was not particularly impressive: 1-3, 7.52 ERA, 21 whiffs, 9 walks (6 hit batsmen), and 3 home runs allowed in 20 1/3 innings.

Some closing thoughts

Jonathan Papelbon will not be eligible for salary arbitration until after the 2008 season, which is why there's such a great disparity in the pay envelopes of Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez, who signed for $7 million last winter after avoiding arbitration, and Papelbon, who was paid a base salary of $425,500 this season.

With Papelbon coming off a shoulder injury a year ago last September and his role undefined until the end of spring training, there was little incentive for either the Sox or Papelbon to talk about a multiyear deal that would give Papelbon the benefit of security while providing the Sox some cost certainty gained by buying Papelbon out of his arbitration years.

The subject has not come up recently, Papelbon said, but after 37 saves this season on top of the 35 he saved in 2006, he expects it will.

"They haven't said nothing to me," he said recently. "The big reason is probably - and I agree with it - that we've got our work cut out for us right now. We know what we have to do. We've got a lot of things on our plate right now, but we'll figure it out after the season."

Comic relief?

Commenting on Dustin Pedroia's size, Mark Whicker, the Orange County Register columnist, quoted a scout as saying: "When he was born, his dad handed out cigar butts." . . . Manny Ramírez was more animated than usual when disputing a called third strike by plate umpire Gary Darling, gesturing how much outside he thought the pitch was, then dropping his bat and helmet near Darling's feet while continuing his complaint. Darling, exercising commendable restraint, did not escalate the confrontation, which these days seems to be the exception rather than the rule . . . Francona, on how much he hears these days from principal owner John W. Henry: "I haven't seen him today. I don't know, to be honest with you. I see him more when we're scuffling. For me, that's when he's at his best. That's when I get a phone call or e-mail and it's like, 'Hey.' It's been three or four times it's been like perfect. If he comes through, he says hello. He shoots me an e-mail when he thinks I could use it. His timing has been impeccable." Francona didn't have to look far for Henry last night. The owner was sitting in his seat next to the dugout, a couple of feet from the manager . . . Last night's attendance of 37,597 was the largest for a postseason game at Fenway . . . Globe columnist Bob Ryan would have you know that from the time Julian Tavarez retired the last batter in the first inning of Sunday's regular-season finale, Sox pitchers had retired 44 of 46 batters until Vladimir Guerrero singled with one out in the seventh last night. The only batters to reach in that span were Jason Kubel, on a ground-rule double off Papelbon in the ninth Sunday, and Chone Figgins, who led off last night's game with a single off Beckett . . . The Sox have now won seven straight postseason games against the Angels (the last three of 1986, three in an '04 Division Series sweep). The Angels had not been shut out in the postseason since Game 4 of the 1979 ALCS vs. Baltimore.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.