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Red Sox Vs. Angels Lineups: Jacoby Ellsbury Bats Third Against Ervin Santana

The Red Sox will open their series against the Angels Tuesday night when they send Aaron Cook to the mound against Ervin Santana. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. EST with broadcasts on NESN and the MLB Network.

With the final departure of Carl Crawford to the disabled list, Bobby Valentine was left with an unsettled top-of-the-order. His solution: jumble it up into a crazy looking mess that has Jacoby Ellsbury batting third.

Now, in 2011, this may have made sense, since Ellsbury was hitting like a middle-of-order bat. This year, however, given his .250/.302/.351 triple slash, Ellsbury may just be the worst possible player to take over that spot. In fact, reputation aside, Ellsbury should really be batting ninth. But with the standings mattering less and less every day, perhaps this is just Bobby Valentine's way of getting Pedro Ciriaco more at bats, and trying to randomly jump-start Jacoby?

We can only hope.

Boston Red Sox (59-63)

  1. Pedro Ciriaco, 3B
  2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
  3. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
  4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
  5. Cody Ross, RF
  6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
  7. Daniel Nava, DH
  8. Mike Aviles, SS
  9. Scott Podsednik, LF

Los Angeles Angels (62-60)

  1. Mike Trout, CF
  2. Torii Hunter, RF
  3. Albert Pujols, 1B
  4. Kendrys Morales. DH
  5. Mark Trumbo, LF
  6. Howard Kendrick, 2B
  7. Alberto Callaspo, 3B
  8. Erick Aybar, SS
  9. Chris Iannetta, C


Next Game

Los Angeles Angels
@ Boston Red Sox

Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012, 7:10 PM EDT
Fenway Park

Ervin Santana vs Aaron Cook

Mostly cloudy. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 75.

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