Back in June I lamented the fact that the Red Sox seemed possessed of the notion that they could only handle one knuckleballer at a time. I thought that if Charlie Zink continued to pitch well, however, surely he'd get a shot regardless of Tim Wakefield's presence. Like a lot of things, I was wrong about that, as all Zink has done is go 13-4 with a 2.89 ERA in Pawtucket while continuing to not get his chance on the big club.Well, now he has his chance:
Charlie Zink will replace fellow knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in the Boston Red Sox rotation.Zink is scheduled to start against Texas on Tuesday. The team plans to purchase his contract from Triple-A Pawtucket that day and put the 42-year-old Wakefield on the disabled list with stiffness in his right shoulder.
I'm still not thrilled about the obvious knuckleballer tokenism going on here -- would he have been called up if Beckett had gone down? -- but a shot is a shot, and for the love of all that flutters, I hope that he makes a big impact against the Rangers tonight.
(thanks to themarksmith for the heads up)
3 comments:
Texas.
It's like they WANT him to fail.
Also, could this be the last we see of Tim Wakefield? This is two years in a row he's had to shut down with the same shoulder problem. Wakefield seems like the kind of guy that doesn't need the money and will walk away rather than live in constant pain for the sake of pitching.
It pains me to say it, but I kind of expect Wakefield's going to retire this offseason.
Apparently, the Red Sox traded for Paul Byrd. Does that mean Zink or Buchholz loses his spot? I mean, Byrd throws soft enough to be a knuckle-baller.
I assume 8 runs in 4 innings isn't going to get him another start...
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