Despite solid start, Wakefield still bullpen bound

In his final start before giving way to Daisuke Matsuzaka in the Red Sox’s rotation, Tim Wakefield held the Orioles to two runs over 6.2 innings Sunday and afterward indicated that he’s unhappy about the impending move to the bullpen. Terry Francona quickly tried to bring some calm to the situation by saying: “This is not us turning him into a reliever, this is us putting him in the bullpen until he starts again.” While true in the sense that Wakefield will almost surely be back in the rotation as soon as the Red Sox need a fill-in for whatever reason, there are no actual plans for that in place. Wakefield heads to the bullpen at 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA, .288 opponents’ batting average, and 16/8 K/BB ratio in 25 innings and Matsuzaka is scheduled to take his spot Saturday against those same Orioles after looking good on a rehab assignment.