Red Sox vs. Mariners: Xander Bogaerts drops

After a month that has been nothing but struggles, Xander Bogaerts finds himself dropped to the seventh spot in the lineup Tuesday night as the Sox send Jake Peavy to the mound against Erasmo Ramirez and the Seattle Mariners.

Xander, of course, is not alone in his struggles. His wRC+ of 29 in June is astonishingly bad, but somehow looks good when compared to that of A.J. Pierzynski (3) and Stephen Drew (-5). I'm honestly not entirely sure how you put up a negative wRC+ given what that statistic is supposed to represent, but...there you go.

Grady Sizemore's was worse, too, but he's gone now.

In fact, so far this month only Holt, Napoli, and Nava are above average. Maybe having them all in the top-five will do some good, since if Holt and Napoli reach base it will give Nava a chance to score one of them. David Ortiz is nearly average on the month, too, so it's not like he's a free out--heck, he's accounted for a couple of Boston's few wins in June with clutch homers alone.

Still, if the first three weeks of the month are any indication, once that top five is done, it should be easy pickings, perhaps even for Erasmo Ramirez.

First pitch is at 10:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.