I haven’t been this apprehensive about a pitcher’s regular-season start since Dice-K premiered last April versus the Kansas City Royals. You can delude yourself into thinking the Red Sox will still be a World Series contender without a healthy Josh Beckett, but I’m not buying it. If Beckett can’t join Lester and Dice-K to pose a formidable postseason threesome, then the Red Sox will be fubar. I mean, do you really want to rely on Paul Byrd in October versus teams like the Angels and White Sox?

Josh Beckett has had a pedestrian season and has shown few flashes of his 2007 form, but I can’t foresee a successful Boston October without their 2007 postseason hero. Though we’ve still got a month to go before the playoffs begin, I have playoff-level apprehension about tonight’s start. If Beckett can throw a decent five innings (all that Tito’s asking), then my confidence in this team will rise precipitously. But if he gets jacked around like he did in his last start versus Toronto, we’ll have to wonder if he’s truly healthy. And let’s face it, the Red Sox aren’t going to win the World Series without a healthy Josh Beckett.

It’s one thing to make the playoffs. It’s something else entirely to have a team that’s built to win in October. 

A rotation built around Jon Lester and Dice-K Matsuzaka is built for the summer.