Red Sox.com reported today that struggling starter Daisuke Matsuzaka will be bumped to the DL for an unknown amount of time. But according to manager Terry Francona, “This isn’t going to be a two week DL.”

The excuse is, of course, weakness in his arm from rushing to prepare for the WBC. That was 3 months ago, and no one cares any more. I think the front office finally had enough after his last outing on Friday.

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. I’ve railed about Dice almost since the season began. He’s a 33 game winner over the last two seasons. And good for him. But this season has been a disaster, and as Dave will tell you, “It’s all about the NOW.”  He’s 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA across 8 starts this season. That includes his last outing against the Atlanta Braves, where he walked in a run during the first inning.

The jeering in Fenway might have finally put Tito over the edge. Listen to that crowd. Keep in mind, this is the same crowd that chants “Papi! Papi!” every time the guy comes to the plate, despite the lackluster season he’s having, so its not as if Dice hasn’t earned this. And now I’ll have to look for something else to blog about.

The other huge reason I’m happy about this is that watching Brad Penny pitch against the Yankees was a revelation. He was insanely good, and no Red Sox fan wants to see him get traded to make room for Smoltz and have Dice stinking up the place. With Smoltz ready to make his starting debut with the Sawx, there has been endless speculation about a 6 man rotation, which never sounded like a good idea.

Now with the rotation as Beckett, Lester, Smoltz, Wakefield, and Penny, and our bullpen second to none in MLB, I think we can make a great run into the summer.

The last piece of the puzzle remains Lugo. He’s been riding the pine, and will probably stay that way for a while, with Tito platooning the shortstop spot to Green. Green walloped a home run in the bottom of the ninth today for the walk off win and the series win against Atlanta. While I don’t think Green is an everyday shortstop, between him and a recovering Lowrie, I’m really confident.

Now, if Drew can just stay healthy….