Boston Red Sox (20-11) v. Minnesota Twins (13-14)
SP - Clay Buchholz (6-0, 1.01) v. Vance Worley (0-4, 7.22)
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Shane Victorino, RF
3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
4. David Ortiz, DH
5. Mike Napoli, 1B
6. Daniel Nava, LF
7. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
8. Will Middlebrooks, 3B
9. Stephen Drew, SS
Notes:
Is it time for John Farrell to shake up the heart of his lineup?
Dustin Pedroia is off to a solid start, with a .296 batting average and an on-base percentage of .396. But that doesn't cut it for the third hitter in the lineup, which is where Pedroia is hitting this season. He does not have a home run and has a paltry slugging percentage of .345.
The solution is not easy, as this lineup is not deep with sluggers. Farrell is likely to stick it out with Pedroia - who has proven throughout his career that having patience with him pays off - but if does choose to make a move, he could slide Jacoby Ellsbury to the third spot while using Shane Victorino and Pedroia in the first two spots. The draw back to that switch is going lefty-lefty with Ellsbury and clean-up hitter David Ortiz but it might be worth the gamble in the short term if Farrell is not patient enough to wait out his second baseman's power outage.
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