Triple the pleasure

Seems like only yesterday that anxious Red Sox fans were worried about their team's starting pitching. They were lighting candles in the hope that Tim Wakefield's back would get better, that Josh Beckett would find his groove, that rehabbing Daisuke Matsuzaka would make the leap from the Carolina League playoffs to the American League Division Series. Having already failed with the John Smoltz experiment, the Red Sox pulled Paul Byrd off some Little League field in Georgia and gave HIM a job. ``One day I was throwing Wiffle balls to my kids,'' Byrd said. ``The next day I was starting against Roy Halladay.'' Who's next for the Red Sox ? Juan Marichal? Ray Culp? Billy Rohr? For a while there, it was that bad. And now it is this good: In sweeping a day-night doubleheader from the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday at Fenway Park, winning the opener, 3-1, and then riding eight shutout innings from Jon Lester to a 4-0 victory in the nightcap, the Sox pitching staff has allowed a of seven runs in its last five games. Now if you want to say that there are still plenty of concerns with the starting pitching, go right ahead. When the Red Sox open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels tomorrow night, Matsuzaka will be making his first start since June. The next night, the ol' Byrd dog, a savior two weeks ago when he came out of retirement and pitched six shutout innings against Toronto, will be looking to shake off two shaky outings. And Wakefield still is limping around, hoping his back will allow him to make a couple of starts. But by the end of the second game last night it was impossible not to see that it's all coming together for the Red Sox . After Buchholz allowed one run in seven innings in the opener, with Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon working in relief, Lester mowed down the Rays with his eight innings in the second game, with Billy Wagner wrapping it up with a scoreless ninth. And don't forget Josh Beckett, who shook off a month's worth of bad outings with five strong innings in Saturday's rain-shortened victory against the Rays, who in a combined 20 innings scored two runs against three Red Sox starters in this series. ``Our starters got deep, and the guys we brought in got people out,'' Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. ``We're very fortunate with the way it worked out.'' After watching Beckett, Buchholz and Lester face the Rays, Byrd said, ``Oh, you mean our three Cy Young Award winners? I saw Josh Beckett, who's a big-game pitcher. A World Series pitcher. And I think Jon Lester is honestly one of the two or three best young pitchers in this game. He pitches like a 35-year-old veteran. He's calm, cool and collected. A complete pitcher.'' And Clay Buchholz? ``He has as good or better stuff than all of them,'' he said. ``And he's started to come into his own the last month. If we get to the playoffs, we'll have three No. 1s on the mound.'' Assuming they get to October, the Red Sox still need a fourth starter. They want it to be Matsuzaka. If Dice-K fails? It could be Byrd. Maybe, somehow, it will be Wakefield. Doubtful, but you never know. But we know this much: The Red Sox have a trio. Beckett is back, Lester is on fire and Buchholz is starting to deliver on the promise he showed in his 2007 no-hitter. Look, no team goes into the playoffs with Sandy Koufax as the fourth starter. But the Sox have those three solid starters, and that has going-deep-in-the-playoffs written all over it. - sbuckley@bostonherald.com