Boston winning arms race

The bright side about Josh Beckett's situation is no structural damage was found when the Red Sox ace was examined and tested by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews yesterday in Pensacola, Fla. So Beckett, on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to Aug. 18, could pitch Friday in Texas.

In the interim, the Red Sox will show off one of their minor league stars, Michael Bowden, who will make his major league debut against the White Sox tonight.

The Red Sox have had pretty good success with young pitchers the past two years, from Jon Lester to Clay Buchholz (before his struggles) to Justin Masterson to Manny Delcarmen. Bowden's debut comes two days shy of the one-year anniversary of Buchholz's no-hitter against the Orioles. And now Bowden, who was 0-3 with a 3.38 ERA at Pawtucket after going 9-4 with a 2.33 ERA at Double A Portland, gets his shot against AL Central-leading Chicago, which was blanked by Daisuke Matsuzaka, 8-0, last night at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox, who trail Tampa Bay by 4 1/2 games, are trying to survive while Beckett is out with elbow inflammation. They won't expect more than six innings out of the 21-year-old Bowden, but if they get a quality start, it will be another notch in their belt in terms of developing a prospect while still competing for a playoff berth. That's a formula they've had success with the past two seasons.

"This is a little bit of a rapid ascent, but I think we all feel, our development people especially, that [Bowden] can han dle whatever comes at him. It's an exciting day for the organization," said manager Terry Francona.

Bowden has gone at least six innings and allowed three or fewer runs in five of his Triple A outings, including his last four.

Earlier, the team was forced to obtain Paul Byrd in a waiver deal when the feeling was Bowden wasn't quite ready. He's already pitched 144 1/3 innings between Portland and Pawtucket, pretty close to the 150-inning threshold the organization usually holds their young pitchers to. With Beckett due back Friday, Bowden may get only one start before either heading to the bullpen or being shut down.

Matsuzaka continued his interesting season last night by improving to 16-2 and lowering his ERA to 2.82 with eight dominant innings. Matsuzaka, who has battled high pitch counts and wildness, matched Hideo Nomo, who won 16 games three times for the Dodgers, for the most wins in a season by a native of Japan.

"I don't think that just reaching that number in and of itself has that much meaning," Matsuzaka said.

While Matsuzaka usually pitches tedious games, he was economical last night, allowing the White Sox only two hits a day after Jon Lester pitched a gem against the Yankees, only to receive a no-decision when the bullpen struggled.

Matsuzaka, who threw 104 pitches, 65 for strikes, had White Sox batters off balance all night. He allowed four base runners and struck out seven. Matsuzaka's outings are like a box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get, but the majority of them end up as winners.

"He always pitches good against us," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "He threw more strikes today. He's always throwing high counts, but today he threw strikes and we were flailing for it."

The Red Sox have little margin for error down the stretch. In addition to battling the Rays in the East, they have to contend with the Twins and/or White Sox for a wild-card berth.

So far, the Red Sox have been able to stay in contention despite injuries to Curt Schilling right off the bat, as well as DL stints for Matsuzaka, Beckett, and Tim Wakefield.

Matsuzaka, who has just 12 quality starts in 24 outings, just wins.

"I thought he was throwing his fastball in to righthanded hitters very aggressively and for strikes, which opened up the plate, and I thought his slider was also [effective]," said Francona. "Those two pitches were real strong. He looked strong. It's getting to the point in the season where we're heading into September and he seems to have a lot left in the tank, which is good news."

Matsuzaka understood how important it was to turn in a quality outing.

"With the tough loss [Thursday in New York] and the team we might face again in the near future, I wanted to go out there and pitch a good game," he said through a translator. "I did hold the White Sox in my last start against them but I didn't feel like I was really pushing or pitching against them that forcefully, which I was able to do today, and I was happy about that.

"These past two or three games, I have been pitching inconsistently and I think I mentioned this the last time but those games were the period where my fatigue peaked in the season. I don't quite think I got over it today and I think I'll take another start to see how I feel, but what I'd like to do is learn from my mistakes last season and be able to pitch healthy all the way to the end."

All in all, the Sox have to be pleased with how they have been able to compete with Beckett out. Lester and Matsuzaka have come up big this week. Now Bowden gets a chance to create some buzz. If he does, it will make the wait for Beckett's return easier to take. It will also mean the rotation has weathered what might have been a disastrous stretch.