By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com
BOSTON --@font-facefont-family: "Times New Roman";p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormalmargin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; table.MsoNormalTablefont-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; div.Section1page: Section1;Terry Francona just wants Josh Beckett to be Josh Beckett.
So to see Beckett throwing a 25-pitch side session onMonday, at first, may be alarming, considering he last pitched on April 27. Butthe Red Sox manager said Monday that Beckett's been pushed back toWednesday only because the schedule allowed them to do so.
I just want to make sure that we monitor the workload, sohe can go out, and be Beckett, said Francona.
Weve leaned on him pretty hard, said Francona. Again,theres no days off coming up. So when you have the ability to give a guy thatextra day, I think sometimes youve got to take it. Because we wont be ableto, going forward for a couple weeks.
With Buchholz pitching on Monday, Francona said that therest of his rotation will be Jon Lester on Tuesday, Beckett on Wednesday, JohnLackey on Thursday, and Daisuke Matsuzaka on Friday.
Third baseman Kevin Youkilis is back in the lineup after missing Sundays game with tightness in his hip.Youkilis is hitting fourth, behind Adrian Gonzalez and in front of David Ortiz.
Boston Red Sox
We grilled him a little bit, to see if he needed an extraday, said Francona. And he didnt think he does. The trainers dont. Thedoctors dont. But well keep an eye on him.
Danny Picard is on twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard.