Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif. _ The Red Sox will face a total of four left-handers over the next five days, so manager Terry Francona will have to tweak his lineup a bit.

Angels southpaw Joe Saunders takes the hill Saturday afternoon against Boston and Rocco Baldelli will play right field and bat fifth in place of J.D. Drew. At some point in the next couple of days, Baldelli will platoon with Jacoby Ellsbury and also serve as the club's leadoff hitter in order to keep the rest of the order in tact.

Baldelli hits left-handers very well and that's why the Sox signed him during the offseason to serve as the fourth outfielder.

"He's like the sixth man in basketball," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Ellsbury began to make solid contact in the first game here on Friday and Francona wants to keep it going. Ellsbury collected a pair of hits and scored two runs in the Sox' 6-3 loss.

"We're just looking for a little spark and you have to pick one or the other," said Francona of the decision to give Drew the day off.

 Tags  J.D. Drew Jacoby Ellsbury Red Sox Rocco Baldelli

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