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Forced rest

Mike Lowell, usually one of the pleasant personalities in the Sox clubhouse, is a bit grumpy today. The reason? Because he is not in the starting lineup.

It is part of manager Terry Francona’s practice to keep everyone fresh. Not only is Lowell off, but Dustin Pedroia, as well.

``We’ve got every lefty we have in there today,’’ Francona said. The statistics, he noted, show that Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie has more trouble with lefties than righties. Lefties are hitting over .400 against him.

Getting Cora in for Pedroia is easy compared with telling Lowell he was going to have the day off. Lowell does not like time off. And right now he is on a great run. Francona was asked if Lowell rolls his eyes when he is told he wil not play.

``That would be an understament,’’ he responded. ``But that’s pretty close.’’

Lowell acknowledged that he understood Francona’s reasoning. But that did not mean he had to be happy about it.

``I don’t mind it once in a while,’’ the third baseman said. ``I just know that we have inter-league games coming up in National League parks where I’ll have some time off. I know we have to do that to get David (Ortiz) in the lineups.’’ For those games, Kevin Youkilis will shift to third.

``I treat it as a day off,’’ Lowell said. ``I’m not taking any hitting on the field. In the fifth inning or so I’ll go to the cage and starting getting some swings in. If they need me, I’ll be ready.’’

Francona understands why Lowell wants to play.

``Mentally he’s great. He feels good about himself. I understand that,’’ he said. Still, the big picture is more important.

``We have a good team. (Eric) Hinske (who will play in Lowell’s place) will be just fine. It will be good for him. If they want to bring in a lefthander later, Lowell’s sitting there.
``I think it pays dividends not getting greedy,’’ Francona went on. ``It’s not always the easiest thing to do. Here you’ve got a guy who doesn’t want to sit. He’s swinging the bat really well. But I think you have to use good judgment.’’

Francona told Lowell a day ahead of time, as he tries to do in all such instances, about the day off.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 1:35 PM | Permalink