Smoltz goes with changeup

His comeback is slowed by setback

By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff  |  April 30, 2009

CLEVELAND - While the Sox have pushed for depth in their starting rotation - signing Brad Penny and John Smoltz in the offseason - the team has already had to cope with injuries to its starters. Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the disabled list. Now Smoltz has suffered a setback in his return from major shoulder surgery that will push his progress back about a week.

Smoltz, who has June 1 as his target return date, threw to hitters, though not in a game, Friday and was scheduled to continue on a five-day progression before experiencing some shoulder discomfort according to a team source.

"I would say it's about a week of just kind of slowing down a little bit," manager Terry Francona said after last night's 6-5 victory over the Indians. "I guess we had probably thought all along that this was a possibility. I just think it's in his best interests to slow down for a week. He's been grinding pretty hard, going pretty hard. I think everybody involved thinks that, 'OK, let's let him take a week of strengthening and a little bit of rest from the throwing and I think he'll be better for it.' "

The organization doesn't think the setback is serious.

Asked if there had been an acute issue, or if there was soreness, Francona said, "I don't know if I would say there's no soreness, because I think that when you're however old he is, I bet you to jog it hurts. There's nothing that came out crazy or anything like that."

Smoltz will do some rehab, then will likely join the team Boston after the current road trip.

Jason Bay admits it: He guesses sometimes.

But usually, it doesn't do him much good. Looking for that certain pitch as often as not gets him into trouble. It yields ugly swings and uglier results. At the same time, Bay is as good as anyone at turning horrible swings into heroic hits.

"A lot of times, you're out there, for me anyway, you get so locked in maybe looking for a certain pitch," Bay said. "Because of that, you get so focused on it, and all of a sudden, you get something different. You get completely fooled. Then once that happens, it's like I'm not looking for a pitch, I'm just looking for the ball. But early on in the count, sometimes maybe you're looking for a certain pitch.

"Sometimes I just convince myself that that's it, and just go ahead and swing. Then it usually takes one of those to kind of reset yourself: 'OK, I need to rethink what I just did right there.' I'm pretty good at letting things go. One bad swing, one bad at-bat, whatever it is, has no bearing on the next one. But I can look bad."

In Game 1 of last year's AL Division Series against the Angels, John Lackey made Bay look awful on strikeouts in his first two at-bats. That was followed up by a home run that won the game for the Red Sox.

Though he's been looking good at the plate lately, with his .338 average, 5 home runs, and 19 RBIs, Bay is still prone to awful swings.

Make no mistake, Bay recognizes the tendency in himself. Asked if he'd ever watched himself on video and winced, he said, "Oh, all the time. Yeah, all the time."

Matsuzaka threw his first bullpen session since going on the disabled list with a mild shoulder strain April 15, tossing 47 pitches yesterday at Progressive Field. He threw 200 feet before heading to the mound, off which he used all his pitches. Matsuzaka is scheduled to throw another bullpen session Saturday before the team determines his next step, which could be a rehab start. Francona said the righthander is likely to need multiple rehab starts before he's ready to return to the majors.

"The idea behind this is not to put a Band-Aid on it," Francona said. "So if you can try to . . . build up the arm strength, not just mask it by sitting a guy for a week."

Matsuzaka said he felt no discomfort in his shoulder during the session.

Kevin Youkilis was held out of last night's game and J.D. Drew entered as a pinch hitter in the eighth, leaving the bottom of the order looking more like the PawSox than the Red Sox. Jonathan Van Every played right field for Drew, while Jeff Bailey was at first base. On a play in right Tuesday, Drew felt discomfort in his left quadriceps, which had cut short his day Sunday and forced him out Monday. "When a guy says he feels it, it's hard to run him out there," Francona said. Drew had an RBI fielder's choice against Jensen Lewis. Youkilis was out after being hit by a pitch in his back Tuesday night by Anthony Reyes, the same spot where he was hit by A.J. Burnett Saturday. The first baseman had been feeling soreness in the back since he was first hit . . . When Mark DeRosa hit a mammoth drive to center field in the 10th off Jonathan Papelbon, the entire dugout erupted in "Too high, too high," chant from "Major League," according to Francona . . . Van Every on the diving play he made on Ryan Garko to open the eighth inning in foul territory: "I knew I had a chance, just kind of laid out. Knew it was going to hurt a little bit, the rubber track on the sides. I knew it was going to burn, like a carpet burn. It was worth the burn." . . . Julio Lugo was not in the starting lineup after playing Tuesday for the first time since he underwent knee surgery during spring training. Nick Green started in his place. Lugo entered as a pinch runner and stayed in at shortstop . . . According to the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., the Lee County Board of County Commissioners chose the Watermen-Pinnacle site for the Sox' new spring training headquarters. The location is near Southwest Florida International Airport along Daniels Parkway. The new park is expected to be ready in 2012.