The Red Sox will use a largely right-handed lineup against the Athletics and Gio Gonzalez Friday night, not deviating from their usual approach to southpaws.
Noticeably absent is Carl Crawford, who's receiving a standard day off today. The lineup will still have, of course, Adrian Gonzalez, who's on a tear unlike any other these past few games, swatting five home runs in just ten at bats. We'll see if he can add some more back in Fenway park.
Boston Red Sox (80-50)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Marco Scutaro, SS
- Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Jed Lowrie, 3B
- Mike Aviles, LF
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
- Darnell McDonald, RF
The Athletics feature one of the least intimidating lineups in the majors, but one that just finished putting up some decent numbers on the Yankees, however spectacularly their pitching may have failed them in the final game.
Oakland Athletics (59-71)
- Jemile Weeks, 2B
- Coco Crisp, CF
- Hideki Matsui, LF
- Josh Willingham, DH
- Brandon Allen, 1B
- David DeJesus, RF
- Kurt Suzuki, C
- Cliff Pennington, SS
- Scott Sizemore, 3B
Pitching Matchup: Tim Wakefield (6-5, 4.97 ERA) vs. Gio Gonzalez (10-11, 3.24 ERA)
Is this Tim Wakefield's best chance to reach win #200? It's not a bad one, that's for sure. He's facing a relatively easy lineup, with a hot Sox offense behind him facing off against a pitcher with reverse splits--not that the Red Sox have decided to take advantage of that fact, particularly. On top of that, Gio Gonzalez has routinely been victimized by the Sox at Fenway Park, and has a defense featuring Hideki Matsui in left field.
The only problem is that it's Tim Wakefield on the mound with 199 wins--a situation which has provided zero wins in five attempts. It's getting to supernatural territory by now, and if he doesn't get it tonight, I shudder to think how long it might take.