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Red Sox vs. White Sox: Xander Bogaerts starts against John Danks

Xander Bogaerts will get the start at shortstop Saturday night against the White Sox as the Red Sox aim to make it four straight series victories.

By Ben Buchanan
Winslow Townson

The Red Sox will have Xander Bogaerts at shortstop as they try to make it four straight series wins with a victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Boston Red Sox (80-56)

  1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
  2. Shane Victorino, RF
  3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
  4. David Ortiz, DH
  5. Mike Napoli, 1B
  6. Jonny Gomes, LF
  7. Will Middlebrooks, 3B
  8. David Ross, C
  9. Xander Bogaerts, SS

Starting Pitcher -- Jake Peavy

Chicago White Sox (56-77)

  1. Alejandro De Aza, LF
  2. Gordon Beckham, 2B
  3. Alexei Ramirez, SS
  4. Adam Dunn, DH
  5. Paul Konerko, 1B
  6. Avisail Garcia, CF
  7. Conor Gillaspie, 3B
  8. Jordan Danks, RF
  9. Josh Phegley, C

Starting Pitcher -- John Danks

Xander Bogaerts is in the lineup against a lefty, and that is good. But...y'know, it kind of needs to be said:

Why today? Why not yesterday?

John Danks, both in 2013 and over the course of his career, has reverse splits. That's not necessarily to say that he's really bad against righties, just that he's not particularly tough on lefties. Hector Santiago, who started last night's game, has pretty typical splits for a lefty. Given that bit of information, it would make sense that, if Drew was going to get one of the two games against southpaws given his role as the "starter," it should come against Danks, and not Santiago.

Close though it was, the Red Sox won last night, so there's no need for a great inquisition. But even within the confines he's placed on himself by avoiding a more active platoon, it just doesn't seem like John Farrell is optimizing. Even if you appreciate what he's doing for the team in the bigger picture--and it's hard not to given how well this group has come together--there's just no reason not to do the little things like this.

All that aside, though, the Red Sox have Jake Peavy on the mound today against his old lineup, which he will know is not the most intimidating of bunches. Boston, on the other hand, has a lineup which looks reasonably dangerous, particularly if David Ortiz is ready to get hot after breaking the oh-fer last night. They'll even have an easier mark in John Danks than Hector Santiago, though Danks can perhaps not be expected to go quite so off-the-rails as Santiago did last night.

All-in-all it's not a bad situation. But they still have to go out there and actually win it.

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