oh, what a mess

before yesterday afternoon's red sox vs yankees game ... one of the story lines was josh beckett's scheduled return to the mound tonite against the chicago white sox ... beckett has been on the sidelines since getting shelled by the toronto blue jays (15-4) back on 8/17 ... and then revealing he had experienced tingling and numbness in the fingers on his pitching hand in toronto ... immediately after yesterday's game things began to change fast ... and have continued to change all day today ... and even into this evening

on it's post-game show immediately following yesterday's red sox 3-2 loss to the yankees ... nesn's tom caron revealed that josh beckett had been scratched from his friday night start ... and that daisuke matsuzaka's start would be moved from saturday night to friday night ... later in the evening we learned josh beckett would be going to see dr james andrews in birmingham, al on friday ... beckett has been a patient of dr andrews since 2000 ... this morning we were told josh beckett ... along with jd drew (already on the disabled list with a herniated disk) and sean casey (strained neck) ... were headed to pensacola, fl together on john henry's jet to meet with dr andrews ... anyone know if the doctor does group discounts ... and then late this afternoon the red sox announced ... 1) josh beckett (elbow inflammation) had been placed on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to 8/18 ... and that after dr andrew's examination and testing of beckett's right elbow and shoulder ... it was andrews conclusion that both shoulder and elbow were structurally sound and strong ... 2) sean casey (neck strain) had been placed on the 15 day disabled list retro to 8/20 ... 3) the contract of catcher david ross had been purchased from pawtucket ... 4) julio lugo had been moved from the 15 to 60 day disabled list to make room for ross on the team's 40 man roster ... and 5) david pauley ... who was recalled from pawtucket just 5 days ago to replace the disabled david aardsma and fill the team's long relief role ... would start saturday night's game against the white sox

on it's pre-game show this evening ... nesn's tom caron and denis eckersley interviewed red sox pitching coach john farrell ... and they discussed david pauley's planned saturday night start ... and what they hoped pauley could accomplish ... and then during tonite's white sox vs red sox game ... it was announced that 21 year old right handed starting pitcher michael bowden was headed up the merloni highway ... and would make his major league debut tomorrow night at fenway park against the central division chicago white sox ... but no one should get too excited ... this will be a one night stay in boston for bowden (rotation relief) ... he has already pitched 140+ innings this year ... and the threshold for a pitcher at bowden's stage of development is 150 innings ... if you question the red sox commitment to their development schedules ... just ask jonathan papelbon and clay buchholz ... they were both shut down at around 150 innings ... i remember these shotdowns mostly because i remember the outrage of moron callers to sports radio when they occurred ... here in new england, the fellowship of the miserable always know better ... this latest change of plans (bowden for pauley for matsuzaka) will allow david pauley to remain in the long relief role

michael bowden's major league debut tomorrow night will be the latest in what has become an annual late season call up of the young pitcher of the future ... jonathan papeblon made his major league debut on 7/31/2005 in a 4-3 win against minnesota at fenway ... jon lester's major league debut came on 6/10/2006 against texas at fenway ... and clay buchholz made his major league debut on 8/17/2007 in a red sox 8-4 win over the los angeles angels at fenway park ... not to leave anyone out of the parade of young stars of the future and their major league debuts ... dustin pedroia's first day as a major league infielder (a shortstop) was 8/22/2006 out in anaheim ... jacoby ellsbury's major league debut in center field came at fenway on 6/10/2007 ... justin masterson made his debut at fenway as an emergency starter against the angels on 4/24/2008 ... and jed lowie's debut was as an injury replacement for third baseman mike lowell back on 4/10/2008