The Great Influenza of 2008 claimed two more victims last night, as pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka (who was scheduled to start) and Manny Delcarmen are currently in a quarantined lab, getting hosed down by Rene Russo. Lucky bastards.

Jon Lester started last night’s game instead of Dice-K, and had trouble missing bats, yielding 9 hits in 5 innings, while only striking out 1. Newly recalled Craig Hansen gave up the eventual losing run, but at least looked good doing it.

The big news, however, is the kid taking Matsuzaka’s place in the rotation: prospect Justin Masterson. Masterson has been dominant in 19 innings in AA, giving up only 2 runs on 14 hits while striking out 23. He’ll face the Angels’ Joe Saunders, who is 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA.

UPDATE: I had to edit the title, as today is a DAY game (1:35 PM).  Turn on those radios, re-up that subscription to MLB.com audio, and for you jobless freeloaders, you worthless lampreys of society…enjoy.  Let me know how he looks.

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