Tim Wakefield: initial MRI negative; start pushed back

[The Big Train]

Boston Globe.com

Tim Wakefield, whose next start was pushed back until a week from today because of back pain, underwent an MRI of his spine yesterday to determine whether the source of his pain is a bulging disk. Initial results were negative, he said, but if the pain doesn't lessen in the next couple of days he expects to undergo another MRI, this one of his ribs, upon the team's return to Boston.

``It feels a lot better than it did [Friday]," Wakefield said. ``It's been going on for about a month. Originally there was pain in my lower back, in Detroit and New York. That got better, then this kind of flared up, between my shoulder blades and my spine on the right side. So the action of throwing is like sticking me with a knife in my back."