Sunday Red Sox Lineup: Middlebrooks, Crawford Sit

When is it not a good time to give key players days off?

A) When one game above .500

B) When on a two-game losing streak

C) When you've got your worst-performing starter on the mound.

D) When your team has put together seven runs in three games.

E) All of the above.

The answer was E, but that's the situation the Sox are in today. Carl Crawford out, Daniel Nava in. Will Middlebrooks out, Nick Punto in. All in what I called last night the most must-win game of the season.

This team, after all, can ill-afford to go into Texas and New York at .500 and looking like they did out on the West Coast. But with a loss today that's exactly what they'll be looking at. To avoid the scenario they'll need Jon Lester to figure out exactly what he's doing on the mound or outscore the Jays with a weakened lineup after having Toronto put up 13 in the first two games.

Color me pessimistic, I suppose.