Agreed. What kind of a message is Francona trying to send to Drew, batting him 1st? The guy needs to hit for power, particularly now that Manny's gone!

Good thing line-up construction... doesn't mean anything... except that it is the most visible indication of a manager's player preferences.

Pedroia
Drew
Youk/Bay
Ortiz
Bay/Youk
Lowell
Lowrie
Varitek
Ellsbury/Coco

It seems that Terry is hesitant to take Ortiz out of the the 3-hole, but isn't Ortiz' preferance the cleanup spot? I thought he was only batting third because Manny liked batting cleanup and they didn't want to #### with whatever made Manny happy.

Well, at least Tito's impulse to move Drew's OBP up was a good one, since it was mostly wasted batting him 6th most of the year when the black holes of Varitek/Crisp/Lugo (and, most recently, super slumping Ellsbury) were usually behind him and not moving him along. Not quite as bad now that Lowrie at least has replaced Lugo in that group, but still - better to have that .400+ as high as possible.

No Marcel, it's the other way round. Manny WAS batting #3 when Ortiz arrived, but was moved because it made a difference to Ortiz and not so much to him. Once again Sox management showed a totally false set of values.

Ortiz' collapse is in progress; interesting whether it would have happened so quickly without Manny being pushed out.Of course, as I said repeatedly, the intelligent thing to do would have been to trade Ortiz when the market was really salivating for him and make Manny DH.

No Marcel, it's the other way round. Manny WAS batting #3 when Ortiz arrived, but was moved because it made a difference to Ortiz and not so much to him. Once again Sox management showed a totally false set of values.

In the 2004 playoffs, Manny batted 3rd and Ortiz 4th throughout.

I thought that too, for what it's worth, but mainly because the return for Ortiz could have been tremendous, and I thought it would be a good idea to get rid of him before he was such an institution that they'd have to play him for years after he's crapped out.

In the 2004 playoffs, Manny batted 3rd and Ortiz 4th throughout.

Yes, the switch happened in May of 2005. In early 2004, Ortiz hit 2rd, then they switched in July. In 2005, it became "permanently" switched back.

Yes, the switch happened in May of 2005. In early 2004, Ortiz hit 2rd, then they switched in July. In 2005, it became "permanently" switched back.

Karl's never one to let facts get in the way of an anti-current management regime diatribe.

When Ortiz arrived in '03, he only batted 3rd in one game. He spent most of the year batting 5th.

When Ortiz arrived in '03, he only batted 3rd in one game. He spent most of the year batting 5th.

Yeah. Manny hit 4th behind Everett his first year in Boston, Nomar his next two, and Ortiz for half of 2004. It is true that in 2005 Ortiz said he preferred hitting 3rd and Manny said he didn't care, and it is true that Ortiz had a poor April in 2005, but it's also true that Ortiz has hit a little bit worse in his career when hitting ahead of Manny than when hitting ahead of someone else. Not so much that you'd really notice, but a little bit.

Now they have Varitek batting ninth, Francona giving the following reasons:

1. If he's 8th and Ellsbury is 9th, you don't really get to use Ellsbury's speed if Varitek gets on.

2. With Drew batting first, he doesn't like having two lefties (he and Ellsbury) batting consecutively.

The unstated reason:

3. With Lugo out, Varitek is their worst hitter.

Actually, you can shorten that:

3. Varitek is their worst hitter.

(Going by OPS this year, at least, he's worse than Lugo.)

Fun fact: Varitek's OPS (I think not including today's game): .666.

He's a beast.

I'm counting down the days until

a) Lugo is back in the line up and the excuse we have to stomach
b) The resigning of Varitek

Another excellent loss - we would not be in this mess if fatty Colon didn't swing at that pitch vs. the Phillies.

Nobody in their right minds would have expected Colon to stay healthy

Yeah - and the pitching is not really in a mess. I'm just a paranoid android

lineup of success

1.Pedroia
2.Youk
3.Ortiz
4.Bay
5.Drew
6.Lowell
7.Lowrie
8.Varitek
9.Ellsbury

Another excellent loss - we would not be in this mess if fatty Colon didn't swing at that pitch vs. the Phillies.

They just split a series on the road against a division leader. Despite how each game felt, it's a good result.

I'm agreeing more and more with post 1. Drew is really taking a lead-off hitter's approach and the Red Sox really need his power in the lineup.

i like droo leading off. he'll take a power hitter's approach if there are runners on base, but he's their bess on base by. i'd hit bay 4th tho.

1. droo
2. petunia
3. tizzle
4. bay

actually. other than ortiz drew is their only left handed pwer bat. so ... i revize ...

1. petunia
2. youk
3. tiz
4. bay
5. droo
6. lowell
7. lowrie
8. tek
9. ellsbury

youk/drew/bay/ortiz/pedroia/lowell/lowrie/tek/ellsbury

flip dustin and kevin if you must, but i like the best hitters going first, even if you have a scrappy (and slooow) second baseman who hits decently for his position.

(and slooow) second baseman

Here's the thing. He's not very fast. But he's now 12 for 13 on the year and 19 for 22 career as a base stealer. OK - one was that time in New York where he was dead as a doornail and waved his arm around the tag and onto the base. That play actually just seems to personify Pedroia for me - he showed limitations in his raw athletic ability, and made up for it by refusing to give up, and taking advantage of almost unnatural hand-eye coordination.

Anyways, while he might not do very well in a 40-year dash, I think he's actually an excellent baserunner, who's "functionally fast" in the sense that he takes as many extra bases here and there are guys who are much faster.

I've also noticed that he legs out his fair share of infield hits as well. He doesn't appear to be as slow this year as he was last year.

I've also noticed that he legs out his fair share of infield hits as well. He doesn't appear to be as slow this year as he was last year.

I don't think he was ever really slow. He's just slower than most second basemen.

There have been times when he's looked slow for any position. AROM had clocked him in the minors and said that he was really, really slow (forget the numbers).

I think he's just running a lot better this year.

And, since I don't know where else to put this, Lars Anderson went 2-5 with a grand slam today for Portland. His AA line is now .333/.427/.617

Just looking at that Dan. But he also has 27 Ks in 26 games. He's doing great for a 20-year-old, of course.

Ellsbury batting leadoff has got to stop. He's one of the worst hitters on the team right now. Put Pedroia there and be done with it. You can still have him batting behind Ellsbury by having Ellsbury hit 9th.

Pedroia
Bay
Ortiz
Youk
RF du jour
Lowrie
drek
drek
Ellsbury

This would even keep Bay out of the dreaded #4 spot!