The Boston Red Six????

On Friday the Boston Red Sox take on the Toronto Blue Jays to kick off the second half of the season. On the hill for the Red Sox? Clay Buchholz.

Many will remember Buchholz from his no-hitter in September 2007. Many more remember how bad his 2008 was, and he was shipped off to the minors.

In 2009, Buchholz has been dominating at AAA Pawtucket, but with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, Brad Penny, and Dice-K, there was no room on the rotation. And when Dice-K went down, John Smoltz stepped up, so what do you do with the sixth man?

If you're Terry Francona, you put him in the rotation. Does that mean that the Red Sox could have a six-man rotation? Maybe. If Buchholz proves that he can indeed pitch at the major league level, it will be difficult to take him out of the rotation.

Early in the season, there was talk by the fans/media about Tim Wakefield eventually landing in the bullpen, but he's tied for the lead league in wins (with Josh Beckett).

How about John Smoltz? If he's locating his pitches, he's great, so...no. Penny? Nope, though he might be traded. Certainly not Lester or Beckett. Maybe to rehab Dice-K they can throw him in the 'pen.

Then you look towards August and September. By then, Dice-K will hopefully be back in good form, leaving the Red Sox with seven quality starters, if everyone stays healthy.

As usual, the Red Sox have approached the season with their eyes on October. Slipping in April and May, slumping before the All-Star break: that's nothing.

A few days rest will do the bullpen some good, and they should bounce back from the issues they've had the past two weeks or so. Bay and Youkilis are seemingly heating up again, and Papi's rejuvenated.

Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have improved their starts, and seem to be the aces we expected at the beginning of the year. Smoltz is looking good. Penny is looking good. Clay Buchholz can only add to the rotation. And Wakefield? Back from his first ever All-Star game should only serve to motivate him and inspire him to keep pitching well.

So...would this six man rotation work? It cuts down on the number of starts, and thus, the number of possible wins. Or with the extra rest, does it make the starters more likely to win?

We might actually get to see the answer to that question.

The Red Sox don't care if Josh Beckett only has the opportunity to win 15 more games instead of 20, and he doesn't either, if it means the rotation will be sharp in October when everyone else is running out of gas.

No one will care if this method helps win a World Series. In fact, if that happens, six man rotations might become the rule.

Or maybe not.

The big question facing the Red Sox in the second half is a good one: what do we do with our extra pitching? They basically have great bargaining chips that won't hurt the team if they go.

Not a bad move on the Red Sox part. Which puts them in prime position to make a great run in October, with five men, or six. Whatever works.