Pitching from the stretch?

“It might be for a time or two through, it certainly could happen,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “I don’t know that we need to make our rotation out two weeks ahead of time.

“But that wouldn’t be the worst thing for a short period of time. Again, not for a long period because guys don’t pitch enough. With days off, the All-Star break, you have too many good pitchers that won’t pitch enough. But for a short period of time we could live with that, yeah.’’

While Smoltz is scheduled to start on a day that would have been Daisuke Matsuzaka’s, the plan is to give some of the pitchers at least one and possibly two days off in the coming week, with the exception of Tim Wakefield.

“We have him in between [Jon ] Lester and [Josh] Beckett, so we can even out hopefully our bullpen a little bit, too,’’ said Francona.

That would put Smoltz in the rotation in place of Matsuzaka, but it might mean that the Sox are going to push Matsuzaka back to Saturday to protect the bullpen. Smoltz might not be able to go deep into the game, and Matsuzaka has not proven that he can either, so separating the pitchers would make sense.

“Right now, we’re on pace for this week to have everybody stay right in order and everybody gets an extra day except Wake,’’ said Francona. “We can mix and match all we want depending on use, fatigue or not fatigue.

“Going into the All-Star break, if we’re able to use it where guys aren’t on fumes, then we can manipulate it a little bit at the All-Star break to maximize some of their rest or who needs it or who doesn’t need it.’’

Smoltz was planning to pitch tomorrow for Pawtucket in his final rehab start, but a weather front pushed him up to today. He’ll throw approximately four innings, with extra pitches in his pregame bullpen session, and will be followed to the mound by Clay Buchholz. Smoltz’s rehab assignment expires Friday, but the Sox do not have to add him to the roster until he’s scheduled to pitch.

“Tomorrow I want to accomplish a lot of things,’’ Smoltz said. “Tomorrow I want to do things that typically were fine-tuning, to make sure that I’m on target for Thursday. Then I’ll start, for the first time in a year, to look at film. I’ve been wanting to look at film for a while.

“Honestly, I want to get to the postseason. That’s what it means. I really want to get to that point, and this team has a great chance of getting there. If I win one game or 10 games, it was an opportunity to help them get over the edge or get them to a spot that was better than before, then it’s a great accomplishment.’’

Because of the timing of Smoltz’s first start, he will miss the Braves, his former team. The Sox face Atlanta both this weekend and next. Smoltz said he was not disappointed.

“I don’t know if it made a lot of sense to have his first or second start against the Braves,’’ Francona said. “I don’t think he was dying to do that. If he was, we probably would have tried to make it work. I don’t know that that was in his best interests. I think he’ll have enough adrenaline going in his first start back. I don’t think it has to be the Braves. That’s asking a bit much.’’

“He batted left and righthanded, lot of balls, which I think you can expect from young kids that are facing a major leaguer are probably nervous,’’ Francona said. “But he saw a lot of pitches, he took some swings [Monday]. Did the same thing today with a little more success [yesterday], at least from seeing pitches. He’s a smart enough kid to use it to his advantage. I think he felt really rusty, and if he’s going to feel rusty, that’s a good place to have it.’’

Asked if it might take a week’s worth of at-bats in Pawtucket for Lowrie to return, Francona said, “I don’t know. That might be a little quick.’’

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.