Beantown's back end

Boston's Justin Masterson did everything he could on Saturday to help his team against the hometown Yankees, and still came up short. The Red Sox rookie tossed six innings, giving up six hits and two runs. He falls victim to a dominant Mike Mussina, who gave up no runs in six innings to earn his 11th win. Masterson falls to 4-3 this season.

There's no clear indication from the Red Sox whether Masterson is earning his spot in the back end of the rotation.

“I didn’t really know what to expect from him, because I hadn’t seen him pitch much,” Francona said before the game. “You hear the reports, but I guess he got here a little quicker than I probably thought.

“We had a lot of meetings in the spring about guys who could help us, and his name certainly came up,” Francona added. “But to put a guy in there every five days and have him hold his own, that’s a lot.”

Bartolo Colon is on the mend, and Clay Buchholz continues to dominate in the minors. Masterson threw just 58 of his 100 pitches for strikes. He's certainly a work in progress and Saturday helps the cause more than it hurts, but whether Masterson's the best Boston option as the team's fifth starter has not yet been answered.

Fantasy Impact: Masterson is the only one of three pitchers name who is pitching in the majors right now. That's the good news. The bad news is he might be the third best option once Colon is healthy. Buchholz is the more heralded prospect, which means Boston may feel obligated to try him again if Masterson can't dominate at the big league level and Colon can't get his health in order.