It’s a sad day for some in Ft. Myers, FL as the Boston Red Sox will break camp after today’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ll head to Houston, TX for an exhibition game with the Houston Astros tomorrow night before going over to Arlington, TX to get ready for Friday’s 2011 Opening Day game against the Texas Rangers.
This will also be the final game for the Red Sox at City of Palms Park as their new spring training stadium and complex are scheduled to be opened next year.
The Red Sox announced their 25-man roster on Monday and there really were no surprises, especially given the contract situations of certain players. Honestly, you can take those moves with a grain of salt as you can bet the Red Sox will probably make a few roster moves during the month of April.
If Matt Albers or Dennys Reyes gets off to a bad start, you’ll probably see Hideki Okajima or Alfredo Aceves back in the big leagues, Okajima especially if Reyes falters.
As far as the position players go, no surprises there at all.
Mike Cameron is the fourth outfielder and Darnell McDonald is the fifth outfielder. Jason Varitek is your “backup” catcher and Jed Lowrie is the extra infielder. Skipper Terry Francona only went with one extra infielder in Lowrie because he can play all four positions across the diamond.
I know we’re all looking forward to Friday’s game but we still have to go through the monotony of the final two games of spring training. After that, everything counts!!!
Also be sure to head over to our Bloguin brother, The Bottom Line, to make predictions on the Red Sox players to win prizes. The links are located in the left sidebar there.
Here are today’s lineups:
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| 1. John Jaso |
C | 1. Jacoby Ellsbury | CF |
| 2. Sam Fuld | CF | 2. Dustin Pedroia | 2B |
| 3. Sean Rodriguez |
3B | 3. Carl Crawford |
LF |
| 4. Dan Johnson |
DH | 4. Adrian Gonzalez | 1B |
| 5. Elliot Johnson | 1B | 5. Kevin Youkilis |
3B |
| 6. Matthew Joyce | RF | 6. David Ortiz | DH |
| 7. Reid Brignac | SS | 7. J.D. Drew | RF |
| 8. J.J. Furmaniak | 2B | 8. Jason Varitek | C |
| 9. Ty Morrison | LF | 9. Marco Scutaro | 2B |
| Wade Davis | SP | Clay Buchholz | SP |
Also scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox: RHP Tim Wakefield.
Also scheduled to pitch for the Rays: LHP Cesar Ramos, RHP Juan Cruz, RHP Joel Peralta.
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSNNE, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
