Veteran Wakefield is game for this start

CLEVELAND - Tim Wakefield knew it was a risk he was going to have to take. He knew, if the Red Sox failed to advance past the American League Division Series, that his season might be over. He knew also that he simply couldn't help the team the way he wanted to, in the way it needed him to, if he were on the ALDS roster.

But after waiting for his health to return, Wakefield stands as the Game 4 starter tonight in the AL Championship Series against the Indians, opposing Paul Byrd, ready to help turn the Red Sox toward the World Series. In choosing Wakefield over Josh Beckett, who if he started Game 4 would have been going on three days of rest, manager Terry Francona made it clear that he both trusts Wakefield and doesn't want to affect his other starters.

To get to this point, the knuckleballer had to work his way back from an injury that developed in August and affected the back of his shoulder through two or three starts before he finally was scratched from one in early September (leading to Clay Buchholz's no-hitter).

"The whole month of September was all four days in between starts it took me to get ready to pitch that fifth day, or sometimes that sixth day," Wakefield said. "It just got to a point where you just keep grinding it out as much as possible, and when the season was over with, I needed rest.

"There's nothing structurally wrong or anything, I just think it's wear and tear, and I can't pinpoint exactly what caused it to start hurting. I know it just hurt."

What has gotten lost amid the injury and the brief October shutdown is that Wakefield, 41, had quite a year. With a couple of impressive streaks, Wakefield amassed 17 wins, tied for his career high. On May 10, after seven starts, his ERA was 1.79. In August, he had a stretch in which he wasn't scored on in three straight starts.

"Wake is the hardest - I certainly don't say this disrespectfully - he's the hardest guy to be a manager for of any pitcher I've ever been around," Francona said. "He's such a good pitcher and he's been good for a long time.

"But I think I learned real quick sometimes to take both your hands, put them underneath you, and sit there. Because of the way he pitches, if you don't do that, it can drive you crazy a little bit. There's going to be stolen bases, there's going to be some walks. At the same time, if you're patient enough to let him pitch, and he's pitching well . . . he won 17 games."

To get ready for tonight's start, Wakefield threw a simulated game last Tuesday. He worked five innings, threw 77 pitches, and pronounced himself fine. In fact, once Saturday night's game reached extra innings, Wakefield was preparing himself - with no word to Francona - to head out to the bullpen, possibly to do the kind of savior's work he did in the 2004 ALCS. But it didn't come to that.

He loves the intensity of the postseason, he said. Loves the competition. And so, it is up to him in Game 4, back injury or not, to help the Red Sox try to even the series at 2-2.

The Sox hold a series of one-year options on Wakefield's services, but there has been no official word of a return in '08.

"I'd love to come back next year, but they haven't had that conversation with me and that's in the hands of the Red Sox," Wakefield said. "But the satisfaction obviously is great.

"I was able to pitch for a good team. They scored me runs when I needed [them] to score runs, and I pitched well when I needed to pitch well, and felt lucky that I pitched on the right days sometimes.

"I think the biggest thing for me, looking at the 2007 season, is that we were able to get into the postseason, like we planned on during spring training, and everybody in that clubhouse worked hard to get to this point - and hopefully we can continue to do that."

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com