It's semi-official: Kevin Youkilis won't play again in 2011, whatever happens to the Red Sox this week.

From Joe McDonald (via ESPNBoston.com):

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein announced Wednesday night that Youkilis was placed on the 60-day disabled list as the corresponding move to the team's activation of right-handed pitcher Clay Buchholz from the 60-day DL.

Youkilis is suffering from a sports hernia, has bursitis in his hip and will need offseason surgery, but he was hoping to play through the pain in order to help the Sox but that seems unlikely at this point.

Fortunately, the Red Sox have a highly competitive lineup even without Youkilis. Still, considering their pitching woes, their best chance in the postseason -- assuming, of course, that they actually qualify for the postseason -- would seem to be a formula that includes pounding out lots of runs in every game not started by Josh Beckett or Jon Lester. Which will be just a bit more difficult without the Greek God of Line Drives in the lineup.