Miasma

Pitching seemed like the Red Sox strong point. And maybe it still is. But with Tim Wakefield headed to the DL and Clay Buchholz in FUBAR mode, the Sox have to retool.

What are the options? The top of the rotation with Beckett, Matsuzaka, and Lester isn't the problem. Where they go from there, anybody knows. Bartolo Colon isn't ready, and the best free agent available could be Freddy Garcia, who has a dozen teams looking at him.

Pawtucket has David Pauley (pitched Saturday), Devern Hansack (pitched the 7th), Charlie Zink (the knuckleballer, pitched the 8th) and Michael Bowden (last pitched August 5th), who has already thrown 126 innings this year. The question is whether the Sox will reassess the innings count with their prize prospect. Colon pitched three innings today.

Justin Masterson would need to be 'stretched out' if he were going back to the rotation, and we've seen how that worked out for Joba (the Hun) Chamberlain.

Here's guessing that they turn to Hansack for a spot start, and try to keep Bowden out of the majors. Let's hope they don't go into panic mode and trade Bowden for somebody ready to go on Social Security.

Statistically speaking, Double A Portland doesn't have anyone ready, with some really high WHIP ratios.

Farm League? Lars Anderson has a 1.021 OPS with 13 runs and 17 RBI in 21 games in AA. Anderson turns 21 in September.