Red Sox at Rays lineup: David Price looks to right the ship

The Red Sox look to get past a brutal Opening Day loss when they face the Tampa Bay Rays tonight in St. Petersburg (7:10 p.m., NESN, MLBN out-of-market).

About tonight: David Price will take the mound against fellow lefty Blake Snell tonight at the Trop. The good part for the Red Sox is that Snell is not Chris Archer, so they might have a better time of it. Even with the lefty on the mound, the Sox throw out the exactly same batting order as yesterday.

Price said he’s never felt better than he has this year, and tonight he gets to finally prove it. He seems comfortable with his health and playing under new manager Alex Cora (who, I’m sure, cannot wait for tonight’s game to begin), but we’ll see whether he’s undergone a long-term fix or this is a lull before another blow-up. I think and hope it’s a more permanent thing and I expect it basically correlates to his performance, which I think and hope will be quite good.

About last night: The Red Sox blew a 4-0 lead, chiefly on the shoulders of Joe Kelly, Carson Smith and Cora. It was an inauspicious start and one that underscored how different last season may look from this one, going forward. Last year’s team had great relief pitching and so-so offense. This year, it looks like it’ll be the opposite.

Forecast: Ugly, in that it’s inside Tropicana Field. It’s just really unappealing on television.

A good tweet from yesterday:

Final notes: I’m trying out a new format with these lineups, obviously. I think this will make it easier for all of us.

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