Boston Red Sox vs Atlanta Braves Spring Training 3-16-11

Lester beat cancer, he can have a hot wife.

Interesting choice by Francona today as he doesn't have Jacoby Ellsbury in the lineup and moved Mmarco Scutaro into the leadoff position instead of Pedroia.  There's some grumbling being made that the Sox have their own top of the order issues that are similar to what the Yankees are going through in New York.

Should Francona go with a 1-2 punch of Ellsbury/Pedroia or should it be Pedroia/Crawford?  In New York the argument surrounds Gardner/Jeter or Jeter/Swisher(or Martin and Granderson) but there have been lineup simulations run buy a computer program which show putting Gardner at the top of the NY lineup gives them a total of 2.4 extra runs all season. 

So it remains one of the fascinating question marks for the Red Sox this spring.  Their lineup is absolutely loaded and there really isn't a bad way to order them, but there is a "best" way... and today sure isn't the best one.

Either way, the Braves finally broke out of an offensive slump agains the Cardinals yesterday so seeing Cy Young Candidate Jon Lester pitch against them is worth the price of an MLB.TV account by itself.

Scutaro SS
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
Saltalamacchia C
Kalish CF
Nava LF
MacDonald RF

Lester P

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