Red Sox (74-48) @ Kansas City Royals (51-73)
SP - Josh Beckett (9-5, 2.40) vs. Luke Hochevar (8-9, 4.89)
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Jed Lowrie, 3B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
5. Josh Reddick, RF
6. Carl Crawford, LF
7. Ryan Lavarnway, DH
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Mike Aviles, SS
Three Strikes:
1. David Ortiz is still out with a heel injury and Kevin Youkilis is off to the disabled list with a bad back so Ryan Lavarnway has been called up from Pawtucket and will be the DH tonight.
Lavarnway has been killing the minor league pitching this summer between his time at Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket. In 110 games he is hitting .293 with 30 HR, 85 RBI, and a .993 OPS.
Considering how many left handed bats the Red Sox have in their lineup, Lavarnway would be a great bench option for Terry Francona if he can translate his success in the minor leagues to the big league level.
2. He might not be with the Red Sox anymore but this is a very nice post about Justin Masterson (hat tip to Peter Abraham).
3. The Red Sox bats, which were so hot in July, have cooled considerably in August.
In July the Red Sox had a triple slash (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS) of .298/.373/.501/.874. Not surprisingly they went 20-6 in the month to take the lead in the A.L. East.
So far in August that has dipped to .253/.308/.418/.725. The record in August is a disappointing 8-8 and they have dropped to second place in the division.
The solution to this problem is for Carl Crawford, Josh Reddick, Jed Lowrie, and the other members of the supporting cast (I never imagined considering Crawford as a supporting cast player when he signed with the Red Sox this past winter) to start hitting to help out Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and Adrian Gonzalez.
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