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Saturday night's batting order is a familiar one for the Red Sox, who have made no changes as they prepare to play the penultimate game of the first half.
Boston Red Sox (58-37)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
- Shane Victorino, RF
- Dustin Pedroia, 2B
- David Ortiz, DH
- Mike Napoli, 1B
- Daniel Nava, LF
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
- Jose Iglesias, SS
- Brock Holt, 3B
Starting Pitcher -- Jon Lester
Oakland Athletics (54-39)
- Coco Crisp, DH
- Jed Lowrie, SS
- Josh Donaldson, 3B
- Yoenis Cespedes, LF
- Nate Freiman, 1B
- Chris Young, CF
- Josh Reddick, RF
- Derek Norris, C
- Grant Green, 2B
Starting Pitcher -- A.J. Griffin
Alright, folks, let's talk mindset. It's something we've brought up before heading into games which, frankly, don't seem likely to fall in our favor. At this point, both of the last two games before the All-Star Break seem to be of that variety. But, hey, that's not a problem.
Obviously in this league, with the Wild Card spots carrying a significant drawback and winning the division suddenly hugely important again, every game counts. But no team wins every game, and right now the Red Sox have run into a couple rough ones, with struggling or inexperienced starting pitchers going up against stiff competition on the West Coast.
If the Red Sox had not just rattled off four wins straight to ensure at least a 5-5 split on this most difficult of road trips, then maybe we'd have to really sweat these last couple games out. But as is, Sox fans, we should be able to take a breath. Let's hope for positive signs from Jon Lester and Brandon Workman, recognizing that if the Sox don't win, that's not the end of the world.
And, of course, if they do win--and any game is up for grabs, much less for a 58-37 team--then that is some serious gravy on top of what can already be called a succesful trip West, and an incredible first half.
