OK. Next up, Tim Wakefield.Once again, the Old Pro’s going to be asked to take the ship out of rough waters and steer it into calmer seas.Because if there’s ever a ship taking on water, it’s the U.S.S. Red Sox Nation. Friday, it was steady as she goes. The Sox won a 2-0 nailbiter thanks to Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jonathan Papelbon, and things just looked smooth and calm from here all the way to the horizon.Today, it’s close to being a lost horizon.Wakefield stands in the way of it being almost hopeless.This isn’t the first time The Old Pro’s been asked to pick his team up out of the gutter. It’s just the latest time.He did it five years ago, under almost the exact same circumstances. The New York Yankees had come into Fenway and beaten up ace Pedro Martinez (that was the famous fight with Don Zimmer, remember?). The game was chaotic, and the aftermath was even more chaotic, with accusations flying around ? capped off by a tearful apology by Zimmer for his part in the dustup.All Wakefield did in Game 4 was baffle the Yankees to tie up the series. Boy, would the Red Sox love for him to do that again.Wakefield had his usual year in 2008. There was a stretch – and a good one, too – where he was absolutely unhittable. There was also a stretch when he was absolutely hittable, too. And, of course, he missed time with an injury.But through it all – and through his career – Wakefield’s been the consummate good soldier, doing whatever he’s been asked, and without complaint.The fact that he throws the world’s weirdest pitch – the knuckleball – just adds to his legend and to the curiosity factor that surrounds him. In fact, as he met the media prior to Game 3, he faced more questions about the pitch than he did about the prospect of perhaps having to bail his team out of a huge hole – yet again.After all this time, Wakefield says the pitch continues to baffle hitters, who look helpless flailing away at it ? as if they’re trying to swat a mosquito.”There are some times when it makes me laugh,” Wakefield said. “The hitters’ reactions ? their facial expressions toward me ? but other than that, nothing really stands out about it.”Wakefield was in such pain at the end of last season that he took himself off the World Series roster (ironically, that spot went to Jon Lester, who pitched and won the Game 4 clincher).He pitched in the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians, and says afterward he couldn’t even lift the covers off his bed the next morning.”That’s right,” he said. “After we beat Cleveland, and I still haven’t recovered, I made the decision to say off the roster.”The Red Sox can only hope that whatever ailed Wakefield last year – and this year as well – is a bad memory. Otherwise, they’re going to be in a huge hole.Not that being in a huge hole is anything new for them. They dug themselves out of a ravine in 2004 to go all the way, and did basically the same last year.But it’s a little too much to ask them to do it again, isn’t it?So, as the song says, the Nation turns its lonely eyes to Tim Wakefield.Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.