The Red Sox hope Carl Crawford can provide a spark while moved back up in the lineup. (AP)

NEW YORK — Red Sox manager Terry Francona often speaks of his desire to offer consistency to his players. It is part of the reason why he believed that it was the right thing to start John Lackey — rather than, for instance, reshaping the pitching staff by having Alfredo Aceves start — on Sunday in New York, and it is part of the reason why he believes in sticking with players when they struggle.

It is a part of Francona’s managerial DNA, and something from which he is trying not to veer, even at a time when the Sox are playing through a miserable 5-16 stretch in September.

“Being consistent is probably the best thing I can do. Everybody probably feels different. I bet you there are a handful of guys who want to knock over the food, get loud,” said Francona. “I think you’ve got to be true to yourself. Whether people agree with it or not, if I’m not true to myself, I’m not doing it correctly. One thing I told myself after [being fired in] Philadelphia was if I ever had a chance to do it again, that I would be true to myself. Everybody might not like that, but that’s how I feel about it and it’s important to me.”

That made it surprising to see a dramatic change in the Red Sox lineup on Saturday. Despite the fact that the Sox were set to face Yankees starter Freddy Garcia — just as they were on Friday, before the game in Yankee Stadium was rained out — the Sox remade their batting order after leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury.

This is what the Sox’ lineup looked like on Friday:

Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Aviles, 3B
Crawford, LF
Scutaro, SS
Saltalamacchia, C
Reddick, RF

Less than 24 hours later, this is what it looked like on Saturday:

Ellsbury, CF
Crawford, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Gonzalez, 1B
Aviles, 3B
Scutaro, SS
Reddick, RF
Saltalamacchia, C

The only three players unchanged in the Saturday lineup were Ellsbury, David Ortiz in the cleanup spot and Marco Scutaro in the seventh spot.

So, why the change of heart and the wholesale changes?

“We didn’t swing the bat very well last night,” Francona joked. “I was just thinking about it a lot with [bench coach DeMarlo Hale], and I spoke to some of the players, and I think it puts Carl in a position where maybe he feels like he can impact us a little bit more.  I know his on-base percentage (.295) isn’t typically what you would have for somebody in the two-hole, but we’re in more of a shorter sample size and it seems like he’s trying to swing the bat and we’ve got some righthanders coming up. We want him to be aggressive on the bases.

“The players, I certainly invited their opinions, and I got some good ones. I just think it’s the right thing to do. We talked about trying to lengthen that lineup out a little bit. Maybe this is a good way to do it.”

That said, while the lineup made sense to Francona in theory, he also acknowledged that he was concerned initially about how such a dramatic alteration might be perceived by his players. However, he talked to the principals who would be involved in the change and received an enthusiastic endorsement of a move to get Crawford in a higher spot in the batting order at a time when he is on a hot streak (9-for-16 in his last five games).

“[Delivering the wrong message is] something I certainly think about a lot,” said Francona. “It was actually exactly the opposite. This was a very good day. I was excited talking to the players. I appreciated their level of not just enthusiasm, but their input was good. I actually kind of enjoyed it.”

Crawford was particularly enthusiastic about the move. He has felt that his ability to run has been limited by his lower station in the batting order. He has hit above the sixth spot in the lineup just five times since mid-April, and he believes that position is related to the fact that he has a career-low 18 steals this year.

“Being back at the top of the order, I haven’t been there in a while so I’m excited about it,” said Crawford. “I can just cause a little more havoc and play the way I’ve always played. Try to steal bases, get on base for the guys behind me. I don’t have to worry about trying to hit a home run every time I come up to bat. Just stuff like that.

“It’s been very frustrating [not to run]. That’s a big part of my game. To have that taken away from you is, you know, it’s kind of tough to deal with.”

Now, the Sox are hopeful that Crawford will be re-energized by moving back up in the order, and that he, in turn, can energize the rest of the Sox lineup.

OTHER PREGAME NOTES

–The Red Sox will have Josh Beckett start the series opener in Baltimore on Monday followed by Erik Bedard in the second game of the series. The Sox have yet to determine who will start the regular season finale, as they remain open to the possibility of using Jon Lester on three days’ rest if the team needs a win to advance to the postseason.

As for Bedard, who will be pitching on six days of rest, Francona said that the left-hander clearly needed an extra breather after laboring through an inning in which he logged 51 pitches in his first start since being sidelined by a sore knee and lat strain. That said, Francona suggested that with the extra rest, he anticipated Bedard being in good shape to pitch.

–The Sox are still trying to gauge whether Kevin Youkilis will be able to play again this year. Right now, the team remains unsure of whether he can play and, if he can, whether he would be able to do more than just pinch-hit.

“He’s willing to try to do anything we ask him to do, which we appreciate. He’s going to keep continuing here in the next couple of days and try to grind through it and see where it leads him. I don’t know where that’s going to go, and I don’t think he does, either,” said Francona. “Is he available to pinch-hit? How much can he do? Can he rebound the next day? We really don’t know.

“But we’ll give it a couple more days here and see where it leads because we kind of have to do that. You can’t show up one day and hit. You’ve got to let him go at it for a few days and see how his body responds.”

–While Francona made clear that the team would like to be able to add Clay Buchholz to its arsenal of pitchers, he also sounded a bit of a note of caution on the subject. As close as the right-hander appears to be getting to game activity, the Sox also don’t want to push him faster than might be advisable given that he has missed more than three months with the stress fracture in his lower back.

“As he ramps up the intensity, there’s going to be normal stiffness. Coming back from something to begin with, you don’t want to push too much,” said Francona. “We’ve said all along, obviously we’d love for him to pitch because we think he’s really good. We want to do it the right way. if it works, grrreat. If, we need to take the right amount of speed.”

–Tim Wakefield will start the first game of Sunday’s double header against the Yankees, with John Lackey starting the night game.