Beckett

BOSTON — The fact that Josh Beckett is going to pitch the opener of the American League Championship Series for the Red Sox — against Indians’ power-pitching C.C. Sabathia — comes as no surprise.

But manager Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell have decided to flip-flop their numbers two and three starters from the recently completed three-game sweep of the Angels in the best-of-five ALDS.

Curt Schilling, who pitched seven shutout innings in ALDS Game Three on Sunday, will be getting the ball for Game Two of the ALCS. The veteran right-hander will be facing the other half of Cleveland’s dynamite one-two starting-pitching punch, right-hander Fausto Carmona.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, who struggled through 4 2/3 innings in his Game Two ALDS start against the Angels at Fenway, will start Game Three against the Indians. He will be opposing right-hander Jake Westbrook on Monday night in Cleveland.

The Sox had given Schilling as much time as they could to have him strong for a postseason start. He pitched on 11 days’ rest in the ALDS, and was sharp. Matsuzaka, meanwhile, will wind up with nine days’ rest before facing the Indians.

“I think we tried to accomplish some things with Schill by giving him rest, which I think really helped. That was the biggest thing. The more he pitches with health, I think the better pitcher you’re going to see,” said Francona. “We just feel this is our best way to go forward.”

The alteration of Boston’s starting rotation also will include a fourth starter in the best-of-seven ALCS. If he’s healthy, Tim Wakefield will get the ball for Game Four on Tuesday night in Cleveland, Francona said. The knuckleballer was kept off the ALDS roster because of soreness in the back of his right shoulder.

The Red Sox, though, aren’t 100 percent certain Wakefield will be available to make that start. So to begin testing those waters, Wakefield threw a simulated game yesterday during the Sox’ workout on a sunny but cool afternoon at Fenway.

Wakefield wasn’t the only pitcher to throw a simulated inning or two. Given the fact that Boston has four days off between securing the ALDS and beginning the ALCS, the challenge for the Red Sox is to keep everyone fresh for the next round. To that end, from a pitching point of view, Jon Lester, Mike Timlin and Jonathan Papelbon also threw to hitters yesterday.

That plan actually was moved up a day because of weather reports that indicate heavy rain for most of the day today, when the Red Sox once again will work out. Francona said the Sox gave some thought to flying Wakefield and Lester to the organization’s spring training site in Fort Myers, Fla., for throwing sessions, but they decided as much could be accomplished by having them throw at Fenway yesterday.

“It is our hope that Wakefield will be our Game Four starter,” said Francona.

But, while the Red Sox’ brain trust will meet tonight to finalize the roster for the coming series, there are options to their Game Four starting-pitching plan, partly because of the extra day of rest that has been built into the ALCS this year. There will be an off day between Games Four and Five at Jacobs Field.

Normally, the three middle games of the ALCS are played on consecutive days, with a day off between Game Five and Game Six, when the series returns to the other team’s park. This year, the teams will play — if necessary — Game Three (next Monday), Game Four (Tuesday) and Game Five (Thursday), and then, after an off day on Friday, Game Six (Saturday) and Game Seven (Sunday).

That format could allow the Red Sox to use Beckett, who was dominant in a shutout of the Angels last Thursday, three times in the series. Should Wakefield not be healthy enough to take his turn, Beckett could take over that spot and pitch on three days’ rest and then he’d be in line to pitch in a decisive Game Seven on four days’ rest.

“There are some ramifications if you do that, with everybody else on their normal day, which is okay. But we’d prefer to give them an extra day. So the best thing I think that could happen is Wake goes out, feels good and throws the ball real well,” said Francona.

Lester could be a fall-back plan for Game Four, but Francona said not to etch that possibility in stone because the left-hander is available to be used in long relief or if one of the first three games should go into extra innings.

Francona and Farrell, meanwhile, will protect themselves by adding a pitcher to the roster for this round. Boston went with 10 pitchers in the first round because it was only a five-game (maximum) series, giving them more position-player flexibility, notably the opportunity to use Jacoby Ellsbury off the bench in a variety of roles.

But for this round, which could go seven games, the Red Sox are going to carry 11 pitchers.

skrasner@projo.com