Red Sox vs. Rays lineups: Go away, getaway

It's a getaway day lineup for the Red Sox which is...rarely a good thing.

No Ortiz, no Leon, and obviously no Benintendi after last night's injury. The Red Sox are, at best, at 66% strength, and realistically, they're well below that given the importance of the players who are missing out. With Jake Odorizzi not even giving Chris Young or Aaron Hill a lefty to hit against, this is not really the advantage you'd like in a game pitting a 70-win team against a 70-loss team in August.

If the Red Sox lose today, it's still a positive road trip. 7-4 with the Tigers, Orioles, and Indians in the mix? Sure, I'll take that. Somehow, though, because of the way they would have reached that point--7-2 to 7-4 with two losses to the Rays and Benintendi's injury at the end--it just wouldn't feel all that great.

That said, we've been here before, in that day game to start the Detroit series with a depleted lineup and Clay Buchholz on the mound, and sure, they didn't take the win there, but they came remarkably close and might well have won in the end if John Farrell hadn't made some pretty bad moves. They can certainly win today. But man...when you really break it down, yesterday's loss just took so much wind out of so many sails. The Sox could really use a short-handed victory to lift some spirits.

First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.