Roster calls will be interesting

Red Sox manager Terry Francona has a couple of big decisions to make with his pitching staff, and Rockies counterpart Clint Hurdle has one tough call as well.

After Josh Beckett in Game 1, Boston hasn't named a Game 2 starter. It was Curt Schilling in the American League Championship Series, and he would be on regular rest (four days) for Game 2. But the Red Sox could go with Tim Wakefield instead, not knowing how the knuckleball would react at Coors Field in Games 3, 4 or 5. Wakefield, who started his career in the National League with Pittsburgh, has never thrown at Coors Field. He did allow 10 hits and five runs in five innings in a 1993 game at Mile High Stadium during the Rockies' inaugural season.

It's known that the knuckleball works better in higher humidity, which would go against using him in Denver. He might fare well there, but it's a big unknown. In a Baseball Digest story from 2005, Wakefield said his knuckleball fared fine in a Coors Field bullpen session.

Former knuckleball pitcher Charlie Hough, in the same story, hints that there is an issue there.

"I pitched in Denver once and actually pitched pretty well," Hough said. "The knuckleball does not really bite there in Denver, but it's doable. I pitched in Albuquerque (elevation 4,958 feet) my second year I threw a knuckleball and I won 12 games out of the bullpen. So it's doable."

Francona likes to give Schilling extra rest this time of year, so that points toward using Wakefield in Game 2 and Schilling in Game 3. That would also set up Schilling, a great big-game pitcher, for a Game 7.

Francona also faces a tough decision in reliever Eric Gagne, who showed he can't be trusted in a close game in the ALCS. They could go to veteran Julian Tavarez, who hasn't been on the postseason roster but has pitched in the National League and could be more effective than Gagne in long relief.

Hurdle's call is with Aaron Cook, who was the Rockies' ace but hasn't pitched in a game in two months with a strained muscle in his side. He pronounced himself ready to go and threw reasonably well in a simulated game. But starting him in the World Series after two months off? A very tough call. That move would push Franklin Morales to the bullpen and give the Rockies a third lefty.

These decisions are hardest on the managers.

"Basically, it's brutal for me to get to this point in time and have to tell a couple guys that they can't participate in the World Series," Hurdle told MLB.com. "This is the one part of the job that I would classify as brutal."

Who has the edge in all of the matchups? Here's an analysis, position by position.