Pitching from the stretch?

Six starters may be plan for now

By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff  |  June 17, 2009

With the impending insertion of John Smoltz - clear that calendar for Thursday, June 25, in Washington - the Red Sox will need to figure out just which six pitchers will factor into their rotation. An answer wasn’t clear yesterday, though this much is certain: The Sox aren’t against going with all six, though not for long.

“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.’’

Jed Lowrie has spent the past two days in Lowell taking live batting practice with the Spinners. He will travel to Florida today to work out in extended spring training with the Gulf Coast team, which isn’t playing games yet. That will allow the shortstop to get as many at-bats as he needs tomorrow and Friday before he most likely heads to Pawtucket over the weekend.

“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.’’

Francona responded to Buchholz’s comments in an interview with NECN over the weekend, in which the pitcher said there’s a “logjam’’ at the major league level, and he feels frustrated with the situation. “If you go down and ask 25 guys in Pawtucket, which one of them do you think is going to say, ‘I don’t want to go to the big leagues?’ ’’ said Francona. “Who do you think would do that? Whoever says that, we don’t want them. The kid is pitching his [behind] off. Again, that’s part of what we tell these guys in spring training. Hey, do your job. If you can really help us, you’ll help us. It might not be on your timetable, and that’s just the way the game is. I think Buch is maturing rapidly and handling a situation that maybe he wouldn’t have been able to in the past.’’ . . . David Ortiz was slotted at No. 5 in the order last night, though it was no reflection on his better results at the plate. With George Kottaras catching Wakefield, Francona wanted create some separation between the lefties in the lineup because of the lefty in the Marlins bullpen. Ortiz hit his fifth homer of the season in his second at-bat.

If the Sox sell out tonight’s game, it will be their 500th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park. “Our crowd has been phenomenal,’’ Wakefield said. “We’re coming up on 500 straight sellouts. That says a lot about our fans. I’ve always said that they’re our 26th man. I think everybody in that clubhouse downstairs realizes that and enjoys playing here in front of our home crowd.’’ . . . Jacoby Ellsbury had two steals last night, the 18th multi-steal game of his career . . . Nick Green is hitting .385 (10 for 26) in his last seven games, with six RBIs. With Ellsbury getting on base ahead of him, Green said, “It’s fun. It almost feels like I’m batting second because I’ve got a guy that can get on and run and steal second and give me a chance to knock him in or get him over or whatever. It’s fun having him before me.’’ Ellsbury scored the first run for the Sox on Green’s bouncer that went over the pitcher, under the glove of the second baseman, and couldn’t be collected by shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Few players could score from second on a chopper like that . . . The bottom third of the order had six hits - two each for Ellsbury, Green, and Kottaras. Green said, “It takes the pressure off the top of the order, and if we can roll the order over, it always helps out. That’s our job to go out there and try to contribute.’’

Kevin Youkilis passed Mark Teixeira at first base in the latest balloting for the All-Star Game, though only by a 1,315-vote margin. Teixeira had overtaken Youkilis in the previous vote release. The closest contest in history came when Philadelphia second baseman Manny Trillo beat out Los Angeles’s Steve Sax by 1,625 votes in 1982 . . . Franciscan Hospital for Children will rededicate its baseball venue tomorrow as “Wake Field’’ for the contributions the knuckleballer has made to the hospital and its patients.

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