Red Sox-Yankees Series Finale Rained Out, Daniel Bard Headed Back To The Bullpen

As expected, tonight's Red Sox-Yankees game (slated to be Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN) was cancelled this afternoon since it has poured all day in Boston. No word on when the game will be made up later in the season.

Frankly, this is the best thing that could happen to the Red Sox, who've dropped five in a row. They avoid another loss to the Yankees and more importantly, they can get out of Fenway Park and away from all the (deserved) negativity. They head to the Midwest for three games against the Minnesota Twins (5-11) then four games next weekend in Chicago against the White Sox (9-6).

The other big piece of news is that Daniel Bard has been moved back to the bullpen. The Red Sox say it's only temporary but come on, give me a break. How many times do guys get bounced back and forth between the rotation and bullpen during the regular season? Although, I wouldn't put it past Bobby Valentine to do something stupid like that. Putting Bard back in his normal role: setup man or even closer should help the bullpen immensely.

It will give them someone else that Valentine can count on whereas now there is almost nobody that is reliable. I never understood why Boston's front office wanted Bard to be in the rotation as a fourth or fifth starter. That seems counterproductive since I feel like an elite setup man or closer is much more valuable. Have they learned nothing from the Yankees' mismanagement of Joba Chamberlain?

No word on how they'll fill Bard's spot in the rotation, for now with the rainout today, they're simply skipping him. Look for Aaron Cook to be called up from Pawtucket next week at some point, that's my best guess. He's been pitching well there so far.

At Target Field, Jon Lester (0-2) tries for his first win of the season tomorrow night (8:10 p.m., NESN) against Minnesota's Jason Marquis (1-0). Josh Beckett (1-2) faces Nick Blackburn (0-1) on Tuesday night and Clay Buchholz (1-1) gets rookie Liam Hendriks (0-0) on Wednesday night.

One other roster move: the Red Sox have put Jason Repko on the DL with a shoulder injury and called up Lars Anderson from the PawSox. With Adrian Gonzalez in front of him, Anderson will always be a backup first basemen so I guess he's been playing in the outfield for Pawtucket. If nothing else, Anderson gives Bobby V some more depth on the bench in terms of pinch-hitting for the next few weeks.

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