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April 21, 2007
Television has helped insure that Jason Varitek will catch all three games of this series for the Sox, assuming he stays healthy.
Many teams like to give their catcher a rest when a day game follows a night game. The Red Sox will do that with Varitek once the season heats up. However, manager Terry Francona said in his pre-game meeting today that this early in the season he had hoped to use Varitek in all three games against the Yankees, especially since Tim Wakefield is not scheduled to pitch.
The fact that all three contests are being nationally televised has made it easier to do that, Francona said. Today’s game does not start until 3:55, giving Varitek more time to recover than a 1 or 2 p.m. start. Even better, the finale will be the Sunday night game on ESPN, again giving Varitek more time to rest between games.
``We’ve kind of established that we know we can win when he doesn’t hit. (We want him in) because of his catching abilities and running the game,’’ Francona said. ``But when he does hit, it certainly helps. He’s a switch hitter with power. He’s that bridge to the bottom of the order. It certainly did impact the game last night. We’ve been used to that a long time here.
The Yankees go today with Wil Nieves behind the plate. Jorge Posada, one of a host of Yankees off to a great start the plate, hurt his thumb last night.
Posted by Paul Kenyon 
at 2:17 PM | Permalink
