Dragnet Streaking Hypochondriacs: Angels at Red Sox

Does anyone else out there feel like Josh Beckett is either A) more banged up than we're being led to believe or B) suddenly a serious hypochondriac?


As soon as he goes out and produces the kind of gem the Sox got from him all last season, he has to sit out his next start with a cranky neck. Of course, as Amalie Benjamin said in breaking down the sudden scratch start for David Pauley tonight, the injury or delayed start very well could be a lingering effect of the drastic flu that's been cycling through the dugout in recent days, felling Mr. Reliable Jason Varitek for the past two games in the process. Whether or not it is will likely be spelled out in the coming days, with a simple delayed start a sure sign that Joshie was just under the weather, a true missed outing a sign that, well, maybe that bad neck was a sign of something a bit more sinister.

Unfortunately, to make way for Senor Pauley's latest triumphant return, someone had to go. Anyone who's watched the last week of games knew A) that wasn't going to be Jed Lowrie, who's still hitting above .400 since his call up, and B) It wasn't going to be another pitcher. Alas, that spelled the end for Joe Thurston, whose stay in the Fens may be most notable for his bravery in wearing the number three, falling prey to the old Ruth curse that most recently befell none other than David Wells, he of considerable girth, and Edgar Renteria. In fact, that duo traded the number off just to try and avoid it. Well, it wasn't to try and avoid it, but maybe they should have been trying to. Oh, and Mark Loretta wore the old tres on his back, too, and that earned him exactly one year in a Sox outfit, though his All Star appearance would seem to undermine our whole "curse" claim. Oh well. Say what you will about WMYM, we're nothing if not thorough.

So, what can we expect from David Pauley? Well, we can expect faulty previews, which is really saying something coming from a stat stream as reliable as Baseball Reference. We can also expect some interesting looks from the Angels, who have certainly seen more than their fill of Beckett over the past year - he was 1-0 in the regular season last year but thoroughly dominated the Halos through seven innings of his last regular season start against them and duplicated that in the ALDS opener - but may not know anything at all about Pauley. That would create the upside in how the Sox could take advantage of a surprising spot start ... maybe the Angels just won't see it coming ... and maybe the short notice won't give Pauley enough time to get nervous? That's what Sox fans have to cling on to.

Oh, and they can also cling to the knowledge that Boston's lineup has found a way to get to Jered Weaver in the recent past. They don't crush him like they do Jon Lackey but, well, they don't crush many people as dominantly as they do Jon Lackey, do they?

So what else can we expect tonight? Don't be surprised if we see some Julian Tavarez action. In fact, the Big Lebowski might be warming up as we type this, just in case. Outside of that, it's anyone's guess. What do people think? Good to luck into a surprising starter? Or bad luck to lose Beckett against a team he's started to dominate (well, how many teams hasn't he dominated over the past year)?

Oh, yes, one last thing: Sox fans need to pray that Kevin Cash doesn't get injured. Your backup catcher tonight is Dustin Pedroia. No, we're not kidding.

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