Red Sox vs. Braves lineups: Ramirez, Ortiz both absent

Hanley Ramirez and David Ortiz are both absent from Boston's lineup Monday afternoon, which begs the question: what's up with Hanley?

David Ortiz was never going to play every game of this series. That's just how these National League trips work, and today's game was supposed to see Hanley Ramirez at first.

I mean...maybe this is a double day off, but that really doesn't make much sense at all. How desperate can Ramirez and Ortiz be for a day off that whichever one of them would be manning first today couldn't just wait until Tuesday when the other would take over? If you're only going to be able to play these two guys four times total over the course of the series, there's going to be rest to go around.

Add in Ramirez' struggles at the plate, and it's pretty concerning that he's not out there tonight.

But if you think Boston's lineup looks bad...Yes, that's A.J. Pierzynski batting cleanup for the Braves. Yes, he's got an OPS of .554 on the season. And yes, my bringing this up makes it pretty likely he's going to hit for the cycle today. That's just kind of how this works. But it shouldn't.

First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.