Red Sox vs. Astros: Dustin Pedroia doesn't play

He was in for Saturday's barn burner, but Dustin Pedroia will miss the series finale against the Astros as Boston sends Joe Kelly to the mound for his third start in a Red Sox uniform.

While Pedroia's presence was noteworthy the day after fouling a ball off his foot, his absence from today's game apparently has nothing to do with the incident. According to John Farrell, his starting second baseman has good old "flu-like symptoms," leaving him completely unavailable for today's game, but with no real concern that there's something structurally concerning going on with his foot.

Unfortunately, though, the upshot of all this is that Jelly Johnson is batting fifth. He's not at second--Mike Napoli is also absent for the day, leaving Johnson to play first--but it would have been nice to never have his bat this high in the lineup just as a matter of pride.

So much for that...

First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.