Red Sox vs. White Sox (July 30, 2011)

Red Sox (64-40) @ White Sox (52-52)

SP - Jon Lester (10-4, 3.23) vs. Philip Humber (8-6, 3.27)

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. Carl Crawford, LF
7. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
8. Josh Reddick, RF
9. Marco Scutaro, SS

Three Strikes:

1. With the non-waiver trade deadline just about 24 hours away, the Red Sox have made a move to shore up their bench.  The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham reports that the Sox have acquired infielder Mike Aviles from the Royals in exchange for Yamaico Navarro and Kendal Volz.

Aviles, a career .286 hitter in parts of four seasons with Kansas City, provides depth at second base, shortstop, and third base for the Red Sox.  His "triple slash" (batting average, OBP, and OPS) against lefties is an impressive .309/.344/.944 in 55 games in 2011.  Having a righty who can play multiple positions and hit left handed pitching is a positive for Terry Francona's bench, regardless of his aversion to being a utility player.  Hopefully playing for a World Series contender will change Aviles' attitude.

2. The Red Sox could still use a reliable starting pitcher with Clay Buchholz' immediate future still up in the air.

Ubaldo Jimenez, Hiroki Kuroda, Rich Harden, and Erik Bedard have all been mentioned as possible targets of the Red Sox.

3. Josh Reddick is starting to slip at the plate (7 of his last 31 with 3 RBI).  Hopefully the Red Sox did not miss the boat on Carlos Beltran and Hunter Pence.