Yook Returns Tonight, Dice On Friday

Kevin Youkilis wasted no time in leaving Pawtucket after yesterday afternoon's game and heading north to Boston, high-tailing it out of the clubhouse roughly ten minutes after the game ended. He should be in the Red Sox lineup tonight.

Terry Francona, re Youkilis's 0-for-6 showing in two PawSox games:

I asked him if he wanted to go to Double A to get some hits. He said no.

The Fenway crowd cheered David Ortiz all evening, but he was hitless in four trips and is now 1-for-his-last-17. Francona:

If I said I hadn't thought about the lineup, that's not true. But I knew all along I really didn't [want to move Ortiz]. David and I talked about that a little bit. ... I don't want to tell a player, "Hey, if you keep struggling, we're going to move you down." ... The one thing I don't want to do is start bouncing the lineup all over the place. ... [I]t's our responsibility to not lose patience [just because] everybody is screaming to lose patience.

Tito says that "if we move David around, everybody moves", but that's not really true. Anyway, Yook's return will disrupt the order, too. Why not simply switch Ortiz and J.D. Drew -- both left-handed hitters?

Ellsbury
Pedroia
Drew
Youkilis
Ortiz
Bay
Lowell
Varitek
Lugo

I'm not crazy about Bay hitting 6th, but as long as Ellsbury stays at the top and Francona wants to maintain a L-R-L-R-L-R pattern, that's where he fits. (Unless Bay is 4th and Youkilis 6th?)

Other returns/changes to the roster: Daisuke Matsuzaka, out with right shoulder strain since April 14, will start against the Mets (and Johan Santana) on Friday night. Francona says Mark Kotsay is "very close" to returning to the team.

John Smoltz begins his minor league rehab assignment in Greenville (A) Thursday night. He will throw about 50 pitches. If Smoltz takes the full 30 days allowed for the assignment, he would return on June 19, when the Red Sox host his old team, Atlanta.

Jed Lowrie continues his rehab, including light throwing and one-handed swings, "dry swings, just going through the motions to get my body acclimated to swinging with both hands". Lowrie says he has about 90% range of motion in his left wrist, whereas before surgery it was a painful 50% percent.

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Eye-Rolling Opening Paragraph Of The Day: Ron Borges, Herald:

Most Internet users have come to loath what Tim Wakefield was searching for last night. He was looking for pop-ups.

Borges later described Wakefield's knuckleball as "moving like Shakira's hips". Yeesh.