Tuesday Red Sox Lineup: No Will Middlebrooks Against Ryan Dempster

Will Middlebrooks will be missing again Tuesday night as Jon Lester and the Red Sox take on Ryan Dempster and the Rangers.

And, yes, that means more Nick Punto.

After a ridiculous June, Punto has fallen off hard once again, managing just 7 hits in his last 32 at bats with his OPS dropping back down to .585 from a season-high of .641.

These extremes, they are not inspiring.

Then again, last night against Yu Darvish, it wasn't Will Middlebrooks and the bottom of the lineup that got the job done, but the top. Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia, and Adrian Gonzalez will all be back in their same spots tonight. Another 11-for-18 performance probably isn't in the cards--it usually won't be, after all--but hopefully they can keep the momentum going.