Red Sox at Yankees lineups: We want to be a part of it

The Red Sox hope to avoid a sweep at the Yankees as they big goodbye to their rivals until July (!) tonight in the Bronx behind Tanner Houck (7:05 p.m., ESPN).

It has only been two games, so there’s no reason to panic, except they’ve both been losses, which means it’s absolutely time to panic. Just kidding. Houck makes his first start of the year on Sunday Night Baseball, the broadcast of which, blissfully, no longer features A-Rod.

The Sox face Jordan Montgomery, their first lefty opponent of the season, which pushes Jackie Bradley Jr. to the bench. The Yankees’s rotating cast of characters today displaces DJ LeMahieu, with all the other regulars scattered the four corners of the diamond except for Giancarlo Stanton, who’s DH.

Trevor Story is not in the lineup for the Sox, which makes sense as the team indicated he’d get some early rest days after an abbreviated spring. If Alex Cora is good at anything, and he is, it’s pre-planning rest days so that players know when they will and will not have to be ready. This is the tip of the spear. Everyone will have these otherwise inexplicable days off (against a lefty!) and while it’s not optimal roster management, it’s probably not bad, either. It’s just a good way to be fair to everyone over six months in close quarters. It’s important. (Also it was the flu. So it’s all good.)

Christian Arroyo is in right field, Kevin Plawecki is behind the dish and Jonathan Araúz is at second base; otherwise, people are where you’d expect them to be. Go Sox. Let’s put it on the board.