Sports Redux: Beckett's Spot Is Safe. Very Safe.

The Red Sox rotation is going through a little upheaval right now. But not Josh Beckett. This guy's job isn't going anywhere.

It was a weird pitching matchup yesterday at Fenway. Beckett, the guy who pitched brilliantly for the Sox in their 2007 championship run, matched up against Derek Lowe, who almost got run out of town 32 times (we counted) before shining in the 2004 postseason and picking up Ws in all three series-winning games. And no offense to Lowe, who will always be welcome at any Boston gathering, but Beckett pitched circles around him yesterday.

Josh rebounded from a subpar start with one of the best games of his life. A complete game 5-0 win, 7 Ks, no walks, one runner making it to scoring position - it's very hard to improve on that. "He was economical. That was fun to watch," said manager Terry Francona. On his old charge coming back to pitch at Fenway in enemy clothes for the first time, Francona said, "Fans here remember what guys have done and I think that was good. So often we forget." Tito, we're going to remember 2004 for a long, long time.

One guy who succeeded against Lowe was Jason Varitek, who caught him and counseled him and coaxed him through many years. They're forever linked from 2004 and being the good end of the Heathcliff Slocumb trade together, but yesterday was the first time Tek ever took the plate against his old friend. And he hit two doubles. Did his long history with Lowe help, captain? "No. I wish it did."

The rotation upheaval we mentioned came home to roost yesterday. The Sox were already planning to bring John Smoltz in next week, and now they've announced that Daisuke Matsuzaka will miss a start, and possibly be stashed on the DL until they figure out what Smoltzie can give them. It has to be better than what Dice has done lately.

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Roger Clemens agreed to take questions from readers of our sister site Houstonist. The results are in - he didn't address throwing the bat at Piazza, more's the pity, but he did maintain his innocence and cleanliness. He hopes to be able to take his case to the public and clear his name, he'd love to get into Cooperstown without having to buy a ticket, and humanizes himself a little bit when he answers a question about whether his reputation will affect his son Koby's chances of making it to the bigs.

Photo by Michael Dwyer/Associated Press.