Carl Crawford had a big hit on Thursday night late in Boston's 6-2 win over the Orioles, but he won't get a chance to build off of that on Friday night, at least not to begin with.
Terry Francona is sitting the left fielder for the opener of a three-game series with the Mariners, and Darnell McDonald will take his place in left field and hit ninth. Crawford has seen Seattle starter Jason Vargas more than anyone else on the Red Sox, but he's hitless in his career against the lefty, with an 0-for-9 mark.
While Crawford will sit, it's good to see Kevin Youkilis in the lineup a day after he was pulled late in the game for precautionary reasons after tweaking his hip sliding into second base against the O's. Francona and Youkilis both hinted following the game that he'd be able to return on Friday, and that was confirmed when the lineups were announced.
The Sox haven't seen much of Vargas, and the only players with any sort of success against him in the Boston lineup are Youkilis (2-for-3) and J.D. Drew (2-for-4). That said, Drew will start the night on the bench, as Mike Cameron gets a start in right.
Vargas is making his third career start against the Sox. He's got an 0-1 record with a 2.19 ERA in those three starts, with the only decision coming on July 23 of last season. Vargas was the tough-luck loser, going seven innings and giving up just two runs in that outing.
Daisuke Matsuzaka looks to continue a string of impressive starts when he gets the ball against a Seattle team he's had a little bit of success against in his career. He's 2-1 with a 4.11 ERA against the M's, but both of those wins have come at Safeco Field in Seattle.
Milton Bradley, starting in left and hitting third for the Mariners, has worn out the Boston righty, to the tune of a .538 (7-for-15) career average.
Here's how both teams will start the series opener.
Boston
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
Mike Cameron, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Darnell McDonald, LF
Seattle
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Chone Figgins, 3B
Milton Bradley, LF
Miguel Olivo, C
Justin Smoak, 1B
Jack Cust, DH
Adam Kennedy, 2B
Michael Saunders, CF
Brendan Ryan, SS
