• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Dice-K replaces Beckett as Boston hosts Chicago

Aug 29, 2008 - 10:39 AM CHI WHITE SOX (76-57) at BOSTON (77-56), 7:05pm EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Josh Beckett was supposed to return to the Boston Red Sox' rotation on Friday. Instead, Daisuke Matsuzaka will be on the hill and Beckett will be on a plane to Alabama to see Dr. James Andrews.

With Beckett's recurring arm problems rendering him unavailable, Matsuzaka takes over to try and win his fifth straight decision as the Red Sox face the Chicago White Sox.

Despite control issues that have limited his innings and placed added responsibility on the Boston bullpen, Matsuzaka (15-2, 2.98 ERA) has remained one of the most reliable starting pitchers in the American League. He missed more than a month of time with a strained rotator cuff yet ranks second in the league in walks with 78. Still, the Red Sox have won 19 of his 23 starts.

In his last outing, he kept the wildness under control, walking one - his fewest since May 27 - in an August 24 showdown with the Toronto Blue Jays. However, he got lit up for five runs and eight hits and did not factor in the decision.

The White Sox are a familiar opponent for Matsuzaka, who faced them on August 9 and delivered one of his best performances. The righthander went eight innings - the only time he has done so this season - and yielded one run and four hits while striking out four and walking three en route to a 6-2 triumph.

The Red Sox will need another showing like that as they try to make up ground on the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays (81-51). They dropped a 3-2 decision to the New York Yankees on Thursday while the Rays held off the Toronto Blue Jays by the same score to increase their lead to 4 1/2 games.

White Sox starter Javier Vazquez (10-11, 4.37) was a victim of those Rays in his last start, giving up four runs and five hits over seven innings in a 5-3 loss. In his previous two efforts, Vazquez had been dominant. In victories over the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals, he gave up one run and nine hits over 16 combined innings, striking out 18 and walking one.