What, you thought the series hadn’t started yet? Au contraire, Pierre. The series really began yesterday, when the Red Sox and Rockies had to finalize rosters by 10 a.m., with both pulling what would have to be considered pretty significant surprises.

Tim Wakefield took to a microphone before the World Series rather than the mound, but that may save the team in the end.

On the Rockies side, Colorado added veteran starter Aaron Cook, a man who started Opening Day but hasn’t pitched since August 10 because of injuries and then had mixed results in a warm up simulated game last week. We’re not sure about that move, though we’ll admit that a part of it seems to look good for the Sox. We’ll see where the Series is at when he goes in Game 4.

But the man most expected he would see toeing the rubber for his opponent - Tim Wakefield - won’t be there. Wake was left off Boston’s series roster for the second time this postseason, opting to take a noble cue, and perhaps a nod from a miserable couple games at Coors Field in his past and passing the Game 4 buck to Jon Lester, in all probability.

While there are certainly die-hard loyalists that may be fuming over Wakefield’s ommission, be sure, it’s not a bad move. Consider all of the changes that the Boston rotation was going to have to force through to get Wake a start in the Series:

1) Wakefield was going to have to pitch Game 2, and then conceivably Game 6, because of his ineffectiveness at Coors Field’s altitude. It’s not his fault, the thin air completely deflates the drop of his knuckleball, which essentially turns Wakefield into your everyday rec softball pitcher. Not a nice scene.

2) Moving Wake to the 2 slot moves, Dice-K to the 4, which means he’s off the hook for Game 7. He had a pretty solid performance in the ALCS Game 7, maybe not a $103 million, but a solid one nonetheless. There’s no guarantees you’d get that from Wakefield in an elimination game. For concerns about starting a knuckleballer in a playoff elimination contest, just see the 2005 playoffs, re: Chicago White Sox.

3) With his previous back condition and emerging shoulder problems, there’s no reasonable assurance that he’d be healthy enough to go in a Game 6. That means the Sox could be dealing with a knuckleballer with two serious hang ups going in an elimination game. Not the best idea.

So, with all of these considerations in place, Terry Francona and Theo Epstein decided to go with the considerable lesser of two evils: starting a fire-balling rookie left hander who has struggled with control to split up righthanded power throwers, as opposed to a gimpy knuckleballer who struggles with control to split up righthanded power throwers. Is starting Lester a gamble? Sure, there’s no question. But it could pay off, too. After getting his jitters out in the late innings of Game 2 against the Indians, Lester had a terrific relief spot in Game 4 at Jacobs Field. While a playoff start for the young cancer survivor might be even more prone to his trademark blend of passable yet always winnable results - 100 pitches, 2-3 runs in 5 innings - that might be enough to get the Sox by, particularly on the road in Colorado.

And the silver lining? By stepping in to take the Game 4 start, Lester allows the rest of the playoff rotation to line up as it has.

If memory serves, that worked out pretty well in the final three games against the Tribe.

– Cameron Smith