BOSTON – Don’t expect the Yankees to get rid of their knuckleball nemesis that easily.
In fact, it’s a good bet that Tim Wakefield will pitch again this series.
Red Sox manager Grady Little insists that John Burkett will start Game 6 today and that Pedro Martinez will start a possible Game 7 tomorrow. Although Wakefield threw 100 pitches in Monday’s Game 4, he may be able to pitch in relief as soon as today.
Before yesterday’s Game 5, Little admitted, “I’m sure he’s out of the picture totally today, but tomorrow is another day.”
Wakefield has been stunningly effective against the Yankees in the ALCS, going 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA. Counting the regular season, he’s allowed just three runs in his last 20 innings against the Yanks.
How could Wakefield come back again on such short rest? Because he’s a knuckleballer and the strain on his arm is minimal. In fact, Wakefield’s recovery time between outings has more to do with his overall body than his arm.
Asked yesterday when he might be able to pitch again, Wakefield said he didn’t know, noting that it’s still too early to tell.
“[Coming back] would completely depend on how he feels,” Little said. “This guy wears his spikes out in the dugout every single day and has his glove nearby, so that will just depend on how he feels from day to day.”
Little also quickly shot down the idea that he’d start Wakefield in Game 7 instead of Martinez.
In fact, when a reporter proposed that notion, Little paused for several seconds as in disbelief that such a scenario could have been suggested. Then he slowly leaned into the microphone and replied, “No.”
“As we sit here today, our plans are for Pedro to pitch that game,” he said.
That’s understandable, considering that although Wakefield has been dominant, Little would never live it down if he bypassed Martinez in Game 7.
Wakefield has come back on short rest as recently as the ALDS. He started Game 2, threw 111 pitches and came back on two days’ rest to pitch 12/3 scoreless relief innings in Game 4.
Wakefield also pitched in relief twice during the regular season, tossing three scoreless innings. The first outing is a bit misleading because he hadn’t pitched in a week. Wakefield’s second relief appearance, though, came on just one day’s rest when he closed out a 7-3 win with a scoreless frame.
Other pitchers have come back on one or two days’ rest before in the playoffs as well. Perhaps the two most prominent examples recently were the 2001 World Series, when Randy Johnson started Game 6, tossed 101 pitches and relieved in Game 7 to hurl 11/3 scoreless; and in this year’s ALDS, when Derek Lowe pitched in relief in Game 1, as a starter in Game 3 and in relief again in Game 5. Then three days after that, Lowe started Game 2 of the ALCS.
And if anyone could do it for the Sox, it’s Wakefield.