Time To Start Thinking About the Playoff Rotation

The Red Sox are going to be in the playoffs and they are going to be playing the Angels in the first round.  A six game Yankee lead is too much to overcome at this point.  How would you set up the rotation?  Josh Beckett is the defacto ace of the staff but Lester has been a better pitcher lately.  Here is a look at what the playoffs might look like:

Game 1 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester in Anaheim
Game 2 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester  in Anaheim
Game 3 Clay Buchholz/Dice-K/Tim Wakefield in Boston
Game 4 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester in Boston
Game 5 Josh Beckett/Jon Lester in Anaheim

If Lester pitches game one he can also start at Fenway where he is unstoppable.  He did not pitch against the Angels this season and had one start against them last season where he gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, but I think most in Red Sox Nation would feel more comfortable with him on the mound to start the series.  My rotation is in bold but I have a feeling that Beckett will get the start in Game 1.

The Angels are going to have a tough time figuring out their rotation, they have Lackey, Weaver, Saunders, Santana and Kazmir all wanting to start and all with similar numbers. (Santana looks to be the odd man out and Kazmir is a big question mark for the Angels)

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A Plethora of Mediocre Pitching

You can never have too much pitching right? What if you have too much mediocre pitching with a guy who is dominating in AAA wanting to come up. The Red Sox rotation has been OK but there are some big issues.

• Dice-K is 0-3 with an ERA of 8.82
• Beckett has pitched well of late but his ERA is still over 5
• Lester is 3-6 with and ERA over 6
• Penny is 5-1 but his ERA is 5.96
• Wake has pitched well but he is not a front of the rotation pitcher

With Buchholz and Smoltz ready to step in the Red Sox need to shake up the rotation. Penny will be traded, that is pretty much a given but what about the rest of the rotation. The team will want to give Dice-K some more time to get it going and Lester pitches well until one bad inning so it keeps looking like he is close to being able to pitch like last season. The DL might be looming for Lester when Smoltz arrives if he continues to struggle. If someone told you before the season started that 4 of the 5 starters would have an ERA's north of 5 and Big Papi would only have 1 home run and be hitting below the Mendoza line at the end of May there is no way you would believe the team would be tied for first place. Things should improve for the starters soon or it will look 40% different.

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