But deep down, he may get a little push in the Red Sox’ acquisition of Erik Bedard.
The apparent loss of Clay Buchholz for the season, or at least for a long enough period of time that he will not be a help in the playoffs, means that Boston could enter the postseason with a question mark hanging over its third starter.
After Josh Beckett and Jon Lester (or Lester and Beckett — another debate for another time), the team will turn to either Lackey or Bedard, provided it makes it to October, which will occur unless there is a notable slide down the stretch.
That pits Lackey, who has a 3.12 ERA in 14 postseason appearances (12 as a starter) against Bedard, who has never been on a team that finished better than third place in his eight-year career.
The flip side of that are the recent results. Lackey enters Monday with a 6.20 ERA. Although he has pitched much better of late (4-0, 2.52 ERA in his last four starts), he will need to continue that trend to gain the confidence for a Game 3 start. Bedard, meanwhile, had a 1.77 mark in an 11-start span prior to his Friday night outing against Tampa Bay. Included in that run were starts against Texas, Anaheim and Detroit (twice), all potential opponents in the playoffs.
It could set up a pretty interesting competition.
So much can occur between now and October. Yet, so much of it will decide who goes after Beckett and Lester (or Lester and Beckett).
