Friday Red Sox Lineup: Sox Seek Commanding Mayor's Cup Lead

The Red Sox are back on the airwaves tonight, gracing WEEI and NESN alike as they welcome the Twins into Jet Blue Park for a rare spring training night game.

So far it's been all Red Sox in the Mayor's Cup. After downing the Twins 2-1 on March 2nd, the Sox asserted their dominance yesterday with a 12-5 beatdown. Now they're on the verge of a truly commanding 3-0 lead. All they need to do is take down today's game.

With that in mind (or, likely, not) the Red Sox have committed plenty of talent to the starting lineup tonight.

Boston Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Stephen Drew, SS
4. Jonny Gomes, LF
5. Daniel Nava, 1B
6. Will Middlebrooks, 3B
7. Ryan Sweeney, RF
8. Ryan Lavarnway, C
9. Lyle Overbay, DH

Starting Pitcher -- Ryan Dempster

It's missing Boston's most productive bat so far in Mike Napoli, who has decided that, with his hip, he'd be better of not running the bases and just hitting homers instead. Still, there's plenty of potential there, particularly with Ryan Lavarnway riding a hot streak all-of-a-sudden.

Of course, the Sox may not need much in the way of runs if Ryan Dempster looks as masterful as he did the last time we saw him. Another outing like that might go a long way towards changing the minds of some of the folks with lower expectations for the veteran hurler.

With the game being broadcast, we'll have a game thread up later tonight for those interested.