Red Sox v White Sox: Matsuzaka fills in for Beckett

With Josh Beckett on his way to see Dr. James Andrews about his tingling elbow, Daisuke Matsuzaka will fill in for Beckett tonioght against the White Sox.

Thanks to Monday's off-day, Matsuzaka will pitch on regular rest (4 days), but Dice-K continues to be mystery wrapped within a puzzle, surrounded by an enigma.

He's 15-2 with an ERA under 3.00, but during the 4-game win streak prior the no-decision he took in his last start, he gave up 15 free passes (5 vs TEX and 5 @ BAL), but won all four games and allowed just 5 earned runs over 26.0 innings...

His last time out, he walked just one batter, but gave up 5 runs over six innings... and still managed to strikeout eight!

You tell me what to expect tonight, because I have no idea... perhaps Matsuzaka's last start against the Chi-Sox will help: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, victory.

The White Sox will counter with Javier Vasquez, who's season has been a bit of a roller coaster this year. After posting a 7.48 ERA in June and a 5.65 ERA in July, Vasquez, seemed to turn things around with back to back 8 inning performances and 18 total strikeouts against the Royals and Athletics... but Javier came back to earth in his last outing, giving up 4 runs over 7 innings to the Rays in a 3-5 defeat.

Beating up on the A's and Royals is nothing to call home about so, my guess is the Sox will put some runs on the board tonight. Vasquez is 4-6 with a 4.55 ERA on the road and the are 30-35 away from Chicago, while the Red Sox are 43-18 at Fenway and 8-2 at home.

Bottom Line: We've got 6 games with the Rays in September, so we need to keep their lead at 3 games or less... and we've got 20 of the last 29 games at home, so that should be very doable.

And if the Sox need some extra motivation... there's this bit of gibberish from Ozzie:

“I don’t think (the Red Sox) will be the same, mentally-tough-wise, after playing New York and then come to play us,” Guillen told the White Sox’s official Web site. “I know a little bit. They are going to be down. No way they are going to max out when you play in Yankee Stadium.”

Who to Watch: Orlando Cabrera has been the hottest White Sox hitter (.348 in last 7 days) and is 2 for 3 against Matsuzaka ... Jermaine Dye has 3 homers and 18 total bases over the past 7 days ... Coco Crisp has been the Red Sox hottest hitter, batting .421 over the past week ... Jed Lowrie (.348) and Jason Bay (.345) also love hitting at Fenway ... and Pedroyah the Destroyah is 4 for 7 (.571) against Vasquez.