The Red Sox will open their series against Toronto tonight with Clay Buchholz back on the mound and Dustin Pedroia back in the lineup after injury concerns had made each miss some action during the series in New Yankee Stadium.
For Dustin Pedroia, it will be a return to his usual spot batting second as the Red Sox return to their typical lineup vs. left-handed pitchers. Also returning will be Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who missed Wednesday's game with a bad stomach bug that actually led to a short hospital stay:
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. Jed Lowrie, SS
7. Carl Crawford, LF
8. Mike Cameron, RF
9. Jarrod Satlalamacchia, C
For the Blue Jays, the lineup really boils down to two men. The first is obvious: Jose Bautista. While the slugger has been going through something of a slump lately with regards to power, it's only because of the Barry Bonds-like approach that opposing pitchers have been taking. While Bautista's OPS in June is a paltry .690, his OBP for the month remains at .459, as he has been walked in nearly a third of his plate appearances.
The other man is the one who can threaten to make opposing pitchers pay for their walks: Adam Lind. While Lind did not immediately rebound from his disappointing 2010, he's been on fire since his return from the disabled list on May 31, and is now hitting .329/.367/.584 on the year.
1. Mike McCoy, SS
2. Corey Patterson. LF
3. Jose Bautista, RF
4. Adam Lind, DH
5. Juan Rivera, 1B
6. J.P. Arencibia, C
7. Aaron Hill, 2B
8. Rajai Davis, CF
9. Jayson Nix, 3B
Clay Buchholz, meanwhile, will be making his first start in a week after some back issues prompted the Sox to give their young hurler some extra rest. Clay's last start against Toronto came way back on April 15, when he allowed three runs in five innings en-route to the loss that brought the Sox to their season-low record of 2-10. Buchholz gave up five free passes in that game--something he'll have to fix if he wants to see better results this time.
For Blue Jays' starter Jo-Jo Reyes, Friday will be an opportunity to prove he can face the best offenses in the AL East. Reyes, who underwent a historical winless streak that only ended on May 30, has been chased after just three innings by both the Yankees and Red Sox this year. While the lefties of the world are supposed to be tough on the Red Sox, Reyes lacks any semblance of splits and, quite frankly, that hasn't proven to be true of late anyways. Just ask CC Sabathia, who few will argue is a rather more impressive southpaw than Reyes.