BOSTON — Six-man rotation, we hardly knew ya.
The Boston Red Sox can get back to doing what they've done best the last 20 days, and that's winning baseball games (14-5).
Even New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's world-renowned injury reports are more believable than the one the Boston Red Sox handed out to the media yesterday.
The Boston Red Sox today placed right-handed pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to June 20) with a mild right shoulder strain.
And my name is Red Smith (for you youngins out there, he's probably the greatest American sportswriter ever).
The Red Sox have finally dealt with, at least in the short term, the new bane of their existence — Dice-K.
With David Ortiz doing another imitation of Big Papi yesterday, belting a 420-foot blast through what seemed like gale-force winds in the first inning, and utility infielder Nick Green looking more and more like a starting shortstop after his walk-off homer in the ninth, the only "issue" eating at the Red Sox is their Japanese superman.
Matsuzaka and the six-man rotation, which was supposed to be currently in transition, are out and John Smoltz is in.
As for the 15 days, that's only paperwork. Matsuzaka will be out of the rotation until he is needed, which considering what the Red Sox have waiting in the wings in Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden, could be a long, long time.
"It was very obvious we were going to have to DL him," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "This is not going to be a two-week DL. He's going to have to figure this out. We have a lot of work ahead of us to get him back to being Daisuke."
This eases the burden of "the story" hanging over the Red Sox for the last two weeks. It puts an end, at least for the next month, to the "trade Brad Penny" talk, which was bordering on ludicrous.
It also allows Smoltz, who has done everything asked of him since he was signed on Jan. 9, including his taking an extra rehab assignment in Pawtucket last Thursday, to finally pitch in the bigs.
On the flip side, Matsuzaka got past the fifth inning only twice in eight start this season, and neither time was he able to make it into the seventh inning. His record is 1-5 with an ERA of 8.23, the highest among regular starters in baseball.
But the most interesting aspect of this move was Matsuzaka's willingness to accept his relegation to the disabled list, whether he's hurt or not.
"Immediately after I came off the mound (last Friday), my thought was if I keep going like this, I'm just going to be a burden to this team," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "There was no way I could keep going like that ... I reached the point where I needed to approach the coaching staff and be prepared on my end to be taken out of the rotation."
As for why Matsuzaka, who finished with a stellar record of 18-3 in 2008, has gone from a Cy Young Award candidate to bench-warmer for the time being, his supreme efforts in the World Baseball Classic in February and March sticks out like a sore thumb.
We all know the importance placed on that tournament, particularly by the Asian and South American countries that participate. It's like World Cup Soccer in Europe.
Matsuzaka was named the MVP of the WBC, going 3-0 for the champion Japanese squad, allowing only four runs over 14 2/3 innings along with five walks and 13 strikeouts.
But he was excused from much of the normal spring training workouts Red Sox pitchers participated in. And that special treatment, which was granted to give him a mental rest as much as physical, may have hurt him more than we all imagined.
Matsuzaka, though, wasn't ready to "blame" the WBC for his woes.
"I have no regrets," Matsuzaka said. "I knew going in that I'd have to work hard at the WBC and throughout the season as well. That's the mentality I had in the offseason as I was ramping up my training. It's really my fault. I've got to be able to do that effectively. I have no intention of placing any blame on the WBC or using it as an excuse."
So where does Matsuzaka go from here?
Well, he picked a bad time to pitch badly. The Red Sox have options, options they've sequestered for far too long.
It says here he should drop, at least, behind Buchholz, who is officially "impatiently" waiting for the call from Boston. Unlike Matsuzaka, Buchholz, who is 5-0 with a 1.90 ERA, has bordered on special while trying to prove he is not only ready to pitch, but pitch well, in the majors.
"If (Daisuke) has shoulder weakness, it's not like we can give him a week off and he can come back and pitch and his shoulder is going to be miraculously strong," said Francona. "I don't have all the answers yet."
I have one answer: If you snooze, at least on this pitching staff, you lose.
E-email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.
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