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You may have noticed that Kevin Youkilis is not in the lineup today. According to manager Terry Francona it has nothing to do with the fact Youk was hit by a pitch on Friday. The Red Sox skipper planned on getting Eric Hinske into the lineup and give Youkilis the day off.

"There's never a perfect day," said Francona of giving guys an off-day. "It comes and goes with weather and Hinske is swinging the bat pretty well and we want to keep that going. We can’t play 10 guys."

Francona explained one of these days Youkilis will play third to give Mike Lowell a day off, which would allow Hinske to play first a little more. Plus, Wily Mo Pena needs to play, too.

"You don’t want to do it all in the same day," said Francona.

Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin worked the ninth inning in Friday’s blowout over the Angels. The veteran followed the team’s closer Jonathan Papelbon, who worked 2/3 of an inning. Timlin, who began the season the DL, and had a brief rehab stint with the PawSox, needed the work last night.

"First game I thought he had the normal jitters," said Francona. "In a perfect world we would want to get him a couple of games just like we were fortunate to have. We want to get him into that routine where we can pitch him in the seventh and eighth. But, I don’t think that's fair to expect that until a guy gets his legs under him, which he seems to be doing."

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 1:55 PM | Permalink