For the first time in a very long while, Brock Holt is not at the top of Boston's lineup. In fact, he's not anywhere else either, getting his first game off since returning to the team midway through May.
I'm not sure what's more strange: a lineup sans-Holt, or how strange it is to see a lineup sans-Holt. Given that he started this year as a fringe-prospect/roster depth in Pawtucket, it's incredible that he's worked his way all the way up to mainstay status. But here we have a Red Sox lineup that just doesn't look right thanks to his absence.
It's unfortunate timing on the whole, too, given that any hope of maintaining their good-vibe momentum from the past week rides on a win tonight. It's questionable whether or not the Red Sox could even afford their loss last night (or any of their losses in July, honestly). But dropping two-in-a-row within the division would seem both to provide an endpoint to their run of success as well as a death knell for the idea of a post-Pierzynski miracle.
First pitch is at 7:07 p.m. ET (because Canada) with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.