UNCLE!!!

I have been reading through this article, trying to decided how best to interpret, and sum it up for you. It is written so well that I would like you to read it word for word. Without my influence. Amalie Benjamin is the author her contact info follows her story.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Perhaps this is the end. With the news that Jon Lester will be flip-flopping with Daisuke Matsuzaka this week, Lester taking the start Tuesday, Matsuzaka Wednesday, that might just be the final bit of fallout from an epic week of flu medicine and roster moves and pregame scratches of starting pitchers.
Or that fallout could be the five-game losing streak the Red Sox take into their three-game series with the Blue Jays. Between the illness that affected the team, especially the starters, and the injuries to David Ortiz (bruised right knee) and Sean Casey (right hip flexor), the roster has been decimated, leading to 10 moves since last Tuesday.
"The crazy part is everyone's been on flu medication, so I've been Nurse Ratched all week," head trainer Paul Lessard said. "Medication time . . . "
It all started last Sunday when Jason Varitek started feeling ill. He didn't miss a start that day, since knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was on the mound, but the catcher wouldn't appear in another game until late in Friday night's matchup with the Rays. Josh Beckett caught the illness, perhaps leading to the stiff neck that ended his chances of starting Tuesday. Then it hit Manny Delcarmen and Matsuzaka, not to mention a host of staff and coaches.
"There were a handful of guys that were awful, [Varitek], Daisuke, Beckett for a couple days; they were sitting in the doctor's office, which is in the very back corner of the room," Lessard said. "You really have to look for it to find the place. So they weren't allowed to play with the other children till they were better."
But it wasn't only the flu-like symptoms. Or, at least, that wasn't the only reason for the coughing and congestion that made the clubhouse a place ripe for a plague.
"The problem was there were a lot of guys with allergy symptoms as well," Lessard said. "The timing of it - if you noticed the cars last week on Ipswich [Street, outside Fenway Park], there was a film of pollen when we left the stadium. So between the guys with the flu and the guys with allergy symptoms, it was probably 80 percent of the team had something with symptoms."
Which, of course, didn't make it simple to fill out a roster. Especially in a three-game series in which not one of the three starters actually pitched as scheduled.
When Beckett was scratched from his Tuesday start against the Angels, the Sox called up David Pauley from Pawtucket (replacing Joe Thurston, designated for assignment). Pauley took his turn, then promptly was returned to Triple A. Matsuzaka fell next. He was scratched Wednesday, as the Sox called upon Lester to throw a day early. Craig Hansen was brought up from Pawtucket - and took the loss.
Thursday brought a new starter, this one up from Double A. Justin Masterson pitched exceptionally well, but the bullpen lost the game and Masterson got a ride back to Portland for his troubles. Bryan Corey was returned to the 25-man roster in the empty slot.
The last move? Because the team already was low on infielders, with Mike Lowell and Alex Cora on the disabled list and an extra pitcher on the roster, Casey was put on the DL Saturday, swapped for Pawtucket's Brandon Moss. Even Curt Schilling got sick, keeping him in Boston during the Sox' trip to Tampa.
It's enough to make a general manager dizzy.
"There were a lot of moves this week, but it was probably more manageable than it looked from a roster standpoint," Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail. "We had to keep shuffling a fresh extra pitcher onto the roster to keep up, but that was made easier because [Jed] Lowrie was essentially filling two roles - extra middle infielder and extra corner infielder. We were able to go to a 13-man pitching staff for a while without leaving our position players too exposed."
Privately, after winning Pauley's start against the Angels, the Red Sox wondered how they were doing it. Amid the onset of the flu symptoms and injuries to key members of the team (not to mention Ortiz's deep early-season slump), there was no reason they had won six straight. But that all came to an end very soon. And the team hasn't won since.
"These things happen, so you deal with it," manager Terry Francona said. "If you deal with it well, you'll handle it. If you start doing that 'Woe is me' stuff, that's not going to help anybody. So we don't."
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com