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What went into the new Red Sox rotation

Print | Comments () Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff May 2, 2011 05:13 PM

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By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

Here's the reconfigured Red Sox rotation:

Jason Varitek
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Jason Varitek
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Jason Varitek

Who is catching nearly means as much to the Red Sox as who is pitching. That's part of the reason why the pitching rotation is now Clay Buchholz (tonight) followed by Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Varitek can catch his guys every other day, which should save some wear-and-tear on him. At the same time, Beckett and Matsuzaka will each two extra days of rest. Beckett was obviously taxed by the 125 pitches he threw against the Angels on April 21 while Matsuzaka came out his last start with a sore elbow.

"We leaned on Beckett pretty hard there a couple of games and we don’t have days off coming up. Just wanted to try and get everybody situated where they all feel as good about themselves as they can physically. To give him that (extra) day was important," Terry Francona said today.

"When you have the ability to give a guy an extra day, I think sometimes you have to take it because we don’t be able to going forward for a couple of weeks."

The Sox don't have day off until May 12.