So many rotation moves, heads spinning

Dustin Pedroia hits a solo homer in the third; he was playing against his 2007 Rookie of the Year counterpart in Ryan Braun. (John Bohn/Globe Staff)

The suspense has been taken out of the Red Sox' starting pitching plans this week.

There will be an encore performance by Justin Masterson, Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals. The next night, Bartolo Colon is scheduled to make his Red Sox debut.

That leaves reliever Chris Smith, who made his first regular-season appearance in a big-league clubhouse yesterday but did not pitch, one night to work in a major league game before he is returned to Pawtucket.

Colon tuned up for his start with six innings of one-hit scoreless ball for the PawSox last Thursday in Buffalo. If he comes close to duplicating that performance, there will be high-fives all around among Sox brass who felt there was no risk to signing Colon to a make-good deal in late February.

Masterson, meanwhile, earned rave reviews the first time he was called up, April 24, and he held the Angels to two hits in six innings, including a wind-aided home run by Mike Napoli. Masterson has not pitched well since his return to Double A Portland (16 ER in 19 1/3 IP over four starts, but that's not an uncommon phenomenon for a pitcher sent back after his first taste of the big time).

Clay Buchholz's torn fingernail and Friday night's rainout caused the Sox to need two starters this week. Masterson will take what would have been Buchholz's turn tomorrow night, then be returned to Portland so the Sox can add Colon to pitch Wednesday, instead of forcing either Daisuke Matsuzaka or Tim Wakefield to work on short rest.

The expectation is that Colon will stick as long as he remains healthy and pitches well. How will that affect the starters who opened the season in the rotation? Well, Buchholz probably will need a rehab start or two after he comes off the DL - and after that? No need for the Sox to script that just yet. There could be another injury, they could leave Buchholz to pitch in Pawtucket for a while, or another Sox starter could wind up struggling.

Smith perseveres

Smith was summoned to give the Sox an extra arm while they give Hideki Okajima (sore wrist) a breather. Okajima did not pitch over the weekend.

A fourth-round pick by the Sox in the 2002 draft, Smith was involved in a horrific dune buggy crash in his native southern California in which his right forearm was fractured and he required the insertion of titanium plates.

He rebounded from that, was placed on the 40-man roster in 2004, and was averaging more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings for Portland before developing shoulder problems. He underwent labrum surgery in 2005 and bounced between Portland and Pawtucket each of the last two seasons. But at age 27, he got the summons to the big leagues Saturday night.

"I got the call from [Pawtucket manager] Ron Johnson at midnight," he said yesterday. "I was watching 'Saturday Night Live' with my roommate, Jeff Bailey. Ron told me to come down to his room and talk to him.

"[The call-up] didn't settle in right away. I got a little hot, started sweating."

"Everything that happened, I was able to stay on track. I think it made me stronger."

Smith, who is wearing No. 59, is 1-2 with a 1.45 ERA in 10 appearances (four starts). He was moved to the bullpen April 26 and has a 0.90 ERA (1 run in 10 IP) since making the switch. He became the 35th player to be put on the Sox' active roster, the 18th pitcher. Last season, the Sox used 40 players, 20 pitchers.

A hot topic again

On April 29, David Ortiz was batting .172 and his sore right knee was the No. 1 conversation starter surrounding the Sox. In the 17 games since, Ortiz has improved his average to a season-high .250, his three hits yesterday raising his average in that span to .344 (22 for 64) with 6 home runs, 7 doubles, 11 walks, and 17 RBIs. Yesterday was the 31st multihomer game of his career. The back-to-back homers by Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia made it three times the Sox have gone back to back this season. Ortiz and Manny Ramírez did so May 6 in Detroit; Coco Crisp and Jed Lowrie did it May 10 in Minnesota . . . Kevin Youkilis's home run was his ninth of the season and came in his 43d game. Last season, it took him 94 games before he hit his ninth . . . Pedroia's walk yesterday was his first after 12 games without one. Between April 19 and Saturday, he had walked just once, May 4 against Tampa Bay. Last season he walked 47 times.

Two are a match

This weekend showcased the talents of the 2007 Rookies of the Year, Ryan Braun of the Brewers and Pedroia. Braun had five hits, including three home runs. Pedroia had four hits, including a homer, scored five runs, stole a base, and hustled his way to second on a Brewers error that set up the winning run Saturday night. "I know him real well," Pedroia said of Braun. "We tried out for Team USA together; he was a freshman in college, I was a sophomore. We played together two weeks. He got hurt at the end, so he didn't make the team. Then in the [2007] offseason I got a chance to know him. We talked in the offseason, during spring training." Pedroia called Braun an exciting player. "We're two different kinds of players," he said. "He's a middle-of-the-lineup guy, and I'm a guy that does the little things to help a team win, whether it's taking an extra base, drawing a walk, or playing good defense. That's the kind of player I am. Both styles help their team win." Braun last week signed an eight-year deal that will pay him $45 million. Does Pedroia, who is being paid $575,000 this season, expect his payday to come? "Sure, why wouldn't it?" he said. "I play the game the right way. Obviously, everybody in this room does, that's why we're a good team. It will [come]."