By: Jess Lander, YawkeyTalkies Editor.

You all overwhelmingly voted Paul Byrd out of the Sox playoff rotation in our poll.

And he was not included in Francona’s announcement of the rotation for the first three games in the ALDS, so rest assured, (not like you were that worried anyway).

The rotation is: John Lester for game one, Josh Beckett for game two, and Clay Buccholz game three.

The three names are not surprising, for these three have been our most consistent pitchers, despite their own inconsistencies throughout the season. Beckett leads for most wins,17-6 with a 3.86  ERA. Lester, is 15-8 with a 3.41 ERA. Buccholz is 7-4 with a 4.21 ERA.

But what might be a little unexpected, is the roation order. Note: Beckett and Lester are pretty close in stats.

Since when does Beckett not pitch game one of playoffs?

Since Lester has dominated the end of the season while Beckett was shaky. Lester has won 5 of his last 6 games, and 9 of his last 12. Beckett, on the other hand, has  just come out on top in 3 of the last 6, 7 of the last 12. However, I don’t think anyone, including Francona is doubting Beckett’s reliability in play-offs to absolutely take care of business. Francona said the decision has a lot to do with the rest period for each pitcher, with Lester being able to recover quicker than Beckett.

If anything, we should be excited to now have two aces of Beckett’s calibar, leading us to a hopeful World Series. But lets not get ahead of ourselves and take one at a time.

Francona did not announce the possible game four pitcher (probably because we’re expecting an Angels sweep again) but it’s likely that Lester would be rested enough for another go by then, and then Beckett might take the 5th, if needed.

One thing for sure, is that we won’t see Tim Wakefield in the ALDS. Francona reported that Wakefield could be available for possibly the ALCS, but do to a leg injury, is not ready for the first round.

The Red Sox will open against the Angels on either Wednesday or Thursday.

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