Pregame ntoes and lineups

An interesting change in the Red Sox lineup has Mark Kotsay batting leadoff instead of Jacoby Ellsbury. Tito admitted that it basically came down to the fact that he did not want Kotsay to sit for the entire series and noted that Jacoby had a little tightness in his quad over the weekend (nothing to worry about). Tito could have taken out Coco for Jacoby's presence but let's be honest, Coco is ripping the ball (plus .400 since the middle of August). Read that last sentence again and then move on......weird huh?



In other news, the Red Sox have decided to shut down Michael Bowdin for the year (again, not bad news here either, he's healthy). He was close to reaching his pitch limit and they want him to focus on strength and conditioning this fall and winter in preparation for next year. ITM note: Why can my job do that for me?????



Anyways, here are the lineups for tonight's big game against the Rays (as I type that I realize that I'm not kidding about the significance of the game and its still freaks me out a little)



Red Sox
1. Mark Kotsay, RF

2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B

3. David Ortiz, DH

4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B

5. Jason Bay, LF

6. Mike Lowell, 3B

7. Jed Lowrie, SS

8. Jason Varitek, C

9. Coco Crisp, CF



-- Jon Lester, SP


Rays
1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B

2. B.J. Upton, CF

3. Carlos Pena, 1B

4. Rocco Baldelli, DH

5. Willy Aybar, 3B

6. Dioner Navarro, C

7. Jason Bartlett, SS

8. Gabe Gross, CF

9. Fernando Perez, RF



--Edwin Jackson, SP