Thursday, May 23, 2013
Here is the lineup and some pre-game comments from Terry Francona.
Sox lineup:
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ortiz DH
Drew RF
Lowrie 3B
Scutaro SS
Crawford LF
Saltalamacchia C
(Wakefield P)
Youkilis is out with a sore hip.
Now for the pre-game with Francona:
On Youkilis: "He's a little sore. Unless he was really feeling good, we were going to hold him out today … (The trainers) thought if we could give him a day today, it won't linger."
On the rotation: (Buchholz is ready for Monday). "And we have Lester for the next day. After that, we want to look at this and see where we're standing. Obviously, we got Dice-K … we may re-arrange this. We'll see. That's why we're holding off."
When asked about the rotation again and about Beckett usually following Buchholz, Francona again said, "We'll take this opportunity to tweak our rotation a little bit - put everyone in the best position possible."
What can he expect from Wakefield today? "I really don't know. Some of it will depend on the score, how many pitches he's thrown, if he's laboring … it's hard with Wake because every pitch looks the same … we'll keep an eye on him. He promised me that he'll tell me how he's doing."
On the lack of hits Saturday with runners in scoring position: "Last night, Gonzi lines out (Adrian Gonzalez's line drive double play). If that ball is a foot the other way, we're saying okay … then (Pedroia ) knifes a ball down the right field line that is (just) foul. Sometimes, you have to keep some things in perspective. That's why we talk about having a consistent approach, because those things will even out. There will be ball hit fair. There will be balls that find holes."
On Youkilis and Pedroia striking out more than usual, are they trying too hard? "It can be that sometimes. With Youk, he's swung at more balls out of the zone than we're used to seeing. That's led to some misses … I think Pedey gets in that mode where he wants to do more because that's how he's built."
Kevin Thomas covers baseball and basketball for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. He wisely moved to Maine in 1994 after working for the St. Petersburg Times. He is married to Nancy and they have nine children.
Follow his thoughts on the Boston Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs on Clearing the Bases
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