With his sore right shoulder failing to respond rapidly to treatment after his AlCS start, Tim Wakefield will not be on the Red Sox roster for the World Series. Jon Lester pitched four practice innings Tuesday and may end up as the Game 4 starter.

Terry Francona confirmed that his first three starters for the Series would be Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka, in that order.

Leaving Wakefield off the rosters, Francona said, was a decision made after several meetings with the Red Sox medical staff and GM Theo Epstein. While Wakefield said he may have been capable of starting Game 2, he did not know whether he could recover fast enough to start again in the Series.

"It stinks for me,'' Wakefield said, adding that it wouldn't be fair to the team for him to remain on the roster with his health uncertain. "It sucks, to put it bluntly."

Wakefield also said the medical team advised him he may be risking structural damage to his shoudler, which has been inflamed for nearly two months.

- Alan Greenwood