Josh Beckett could not make his start this afternoon due to back spasms:

Beckett seemed to lose his footing on his last warmup pitch and called catcher Jason Varitek to the mound. Beckett put his right hand on the lower middle part of his back and soon was joined by manager Terry Francona and teammates. The right-hander walked to the dugout without an apparent limp.

With Schilling injured and Gabbard traded to Texas, the Red Sox rotation is not as deep as it was a year ago. In 2007, Lester, Gabbard and Buchholz were able to give Boston replacement performances well above replacement value. This year, the fall-back plan is Bartolo Colon.

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