Lackey Pitches Well, Paps Does Not...Boston Red Sox 8 NY Mets 5...Rotation Set!

The Boston Red Sox batted their way to a victory over the New York Mets by a score of 8-5. Lackey was able to go 5 1/3 innings while giving up five hits and just one run. He said this after the game's conclusion...

"I felt like I had pretty good arm strength, a lot better than last time though I didn’t locate as well as last time."

Earlier in the day, manager Terry Francona revealed Boston’s pitching rotation. Lackey will be the number two guy after Jon Lester, followed by Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Josh is fine as a number four and I think Clay bumped up to third in the rotation is a solid move by Tito. He'll have more chances to win ballgames than if he was our number four or five. On the not-so-good side of the game, Jonathon Papelbon had a really rough outing. After Danny Bard pitched a scoreless one hit inning, Paps came in to pitch what was supposed to be a quick inning. It was anything but. He faced seven batters, recorded just two outs and gave up four runs on two hits, two walks, and to put the icing on his spoiled rotten cake, hit a batter. Here he is...

"I still feel very locked in. I’m just a tick off in my mechanics. I’m not searching. I know exactly where I am. I can feel it in my delivery. For me it’s not a big deal at all. A minor detail for me."

Just do it, Paps. By the way, what's a tick? Just curious. Yesterday, Boston Red Sox manager Terry "Tito" Francona released the official five man pitching rotation. In order, here it is...

April 1 at Texas: Jon Lester
April 2 at Texas: John Lackey
April 3 at Texas: Clay Buchholz
April 5 at Cleveland: Josh Beckett
April 6 at Cleveland: Daisuke Matsuzaka

Not bad, not bad at all. I hope your Friday will be a great one and for more Sox coverage, just click on this post's title. See you soon and as always, BE WELL.