Terry Francona says it's beyond a stretch to think Clay Buchholz will start again this season.

Terry Francona is willing to try anything right now in the name of winning a game and inching his team closer to the playoffs.

That includes some lineup juggling as was the case Wednesday for the regular season home finale with the Orioles.

Francona moved one of his hottest hitters – Mike Aviles – up to second in the batting order while dropping Dustin Pedroia down to fifth. The move was an obvious effort to try and provide more protection for Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz in the middle of the order.

“We’re missing Youk and I think the way Aviles is swinging so well right now, we’ll hit him second, he can run a little bit, he’s hot and we’ll have Pedey protect David and Gonzy,” Francona said.

There are some trade-offs, namely not having Pedroia at the top of the order where he is guaranteed more chances to hit.

“I talk to Pedey today. I didn’t want to do it without him [knowing]. I just think the next couple, three days, who knows, just today, I just think it puts us in the best position. Pedey’s not being demoted.

“I actually think he likes hitting at the top of the order and I actually like him hitting there because he has a chance to hit one more time but he can hit anywhere.”

Kevin Youkilis (sports hernia, hip) and J.D. Drew (finger) are both expected to test their injuries on Friday at Yankee Stadium in an effort to see if either or both might be able to contribute in the final six games.

After his 32-pitch simulated game on Tuesday at Fenway, Clay Buchholz reported no unusual pain or stiffness in his lower back, a very encouraging sign for the Red Sox. This leaves open the possibility he might be able to contribute out of the bullpen down the stretch, perhaps in Baltimore if a playoff berth is on the line.

“The good thing is normal stiffness, maybe down his side from getting some extension that he’s not used to,” Francona said. “No repercussions, which is really good news. He’ll either throw again tomorrow or Friday. We just want to see how he’s feeling, travel, getting the field on Friday. There’s some things we need to sift through.

“I think in fairness to him, keep taking it a step at a time. The last thing I want to do is make it sound like Buch didn’t do or failed in some way. This kid’s done a great job in trying to help us out. The good news is he feels really good. If he can pitch, that’ll be a big bonus.

But there is no chance of Buchholz starting a game, no matter how bad it looks in the rotation right now.

“He threw an inning and a half. He can’t start right now. He knows that. He’s not ready to start. He can’t do that. He’s not stretched out enough.”

Speaking of rotation, Francona said he still doesn’t have a firm grip on who might start the third game against the Yankees on Sunday in the Bronx, after Jon Lester starts Friday and Tim Wakefield goes on Saturday. The leading candidate is John Lackey while Erik Bedard was ruled out on Wednesday by Francona.

“We’ve got Lester, Wake and then Bedard is not a candidate,” Francona said, referring to the lefty’s Tuesday start against the Orioles. “That 50-pitch inning was pretty tough. He’ll probably come back on Tuesday. We have to figure it out. We have three days there. Obviously have a few moving parts.

“A 50-pitch inning is tough. A guy hasn’t pitched in three weeks. He was about at a 75-80-pitch limit anyway. When you get 50 of it in one inning, I could see where he’ll need a little time. He’s probably going to pitch once more anyway, so might as well fit him in where it works best.”

Everyone in the Fenway media interview room on Wednesday wanted to know how Francona and the team are handling the pressure of the wild card race coming down to the last week, with the Rays coming on strong. Francona said he doesn’t mind putting a game like Wednesday afternoon’s Rays-Yankees game on the TV.

“Yeah, I don’t usually put the volume up but I like having the game on,” Francona said in answering the question from ESPN’s Buster Olney, on hand for Wednesday night’s game. “Yeah, it’s enjoyable, relaxing.”

As long as Francona doesn’t have to change channels on the remote with his right hand he could be fine. He dislocated the pinky finger a couple of days ago in some horseplay with third base coach Tim Bogar‘s son.

“I dislocated it messing around with Bogey’s kid. I grabbed him,” said Francona, who occasionally does the same with a certain NESN broadcaster. “It originally happened with Don Orsillo. There’ll be a lawsuit.”