Full Count
A Furiously Updated Red Sox Blog
WEEI.com Blog Network
RSS
Pregame notes: Carl Crawford bats second on birthday 08.05.12 at 2:41 pm ET
By Stephen Hewitt

Carl Crawford

Despite it being the eighth day in a row he has played in the midst of playing through a damaged ligament in his left elbow that will eventually require Tommy John surgery, outfielder Carl Crawford will start and bat second when the Red Sox host the Twins on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Fenway Park.

Crawford kicked off his birthday by singling in his first at-bat, and then plating the Red Sox’ first run with a groundout to shortstop.

There hasn’t been a hotter hitter recently for the Red Sox than Crawford, and manager Bobby Valentine hopes that the outfielder can continue his ways on a special day.

“It’s his birthday,” Valentine said of Crawford, who turns 31 on Sunday. “The least he should do is play today.”

Crawford has hit safely in seven of his last eight games with two home runs and eight RBIs in that time period and has shown no signs of his injury slowing him down.

“He’s playing great,” Valentine said. “He’s swinging well and doing everything we needed him to do in the outfield and on the bases, so if he needs a day, he’ll get a day just like everyone else, but right now there’s nothing restricting him.”

• Jacoby Ellsbury will be back in the lineup Sunday, batting leadoff a day after he got a day of rest. Valentine insisted there was nothing serious wrong with Ellsbury, who took the day off to prevent an unspecified situation to worsen.

“We were trying to keep a situation from getting where we don’t want it to be, so hopefully his situation’s caught,” Valentine said.

“It wasn’t a hamstring. He doesn’t like to have things mentioned. It was just a preventative thing.”

• Josh Beckett is still on track to return Wednesday night against the Rangers, according to Valentine. The right-hander, who left Tuesday’s game against the Tigers due to a back spasm, went out early Sunday morning for a bullpen session.

“He looked good, felt good,” Valentine said.

• There’s still no timetable for David Ortiz to return. The designated hitter has been out since July 17 when he strained his right Achilles while running the bases.

“[There’s] nothing new on David,” Valentine said. “I suspect today’s going to be a full workout where he’ll test everything.”

• Franklin Morales will start on the mound for the Red Sox on Sunday, his first start since July 13. Valentine said he won’t be monitoring his pitch count despite a long layoff between starts.

“We’ll watch his command, and his numbers, but there’s not really a limitation,” Valentine said.

Read More: Bobby Valentine, carl crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox Print  |  Email  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • http://twitter.com/brohrbach Ben Rohrbach

    You cannot waive a player and then re-sign that same season.

  • Hogzilla

    Due to salary cap limitations, and the limited talent available via free-agency (i.e. Dwight Howard and/or Chris Paul are not coming here) there is no point to not just leave the team intact for one more year. I think if Pierce comes back KG will too. The big question is whether Doc will. i am a not a fan of keeping players for sentimental reasons, but there are a few exceptions and Pierce is one. He gave his heart and soul for this franchise and to over-pay him for one more year seems to me a no -brainer. I want to root for Pierce. I think they should just switch Green and Pierce and have Pierce come off the bench. Maybe Fab Melo will be able to contribute next year, and frankly in the three games where he played I liked Randolph’s hustle. I think he could provide a little O-rebounding off the bench. This team is not likely a title contender next year, but they will be a playoff team that will be easy to root for. It is so dang hard to get to title contention in the NBA since you have to get so lucky in the draft and/or be a place where the top free-agents want to come.

  • Hao

    yeah, i think so too.. if Rondo weren’t injured, we would be playing in the second round of the playoffs right now.. if the Celtics trade some players, the C’s would be dealing chemistry issues again.. tsk, that’s the main reason our team isn’t consistent, lack of chemistry, lots of new players every season..

  • Hao

    yeah, Pierce should come off the bench.. if Pierce and KG left, i’m afraid that the Celtic Pride would fade..

    one more thing, i don’t think Rondo would be effective without a big man like KG.. they (Rondo and KG) have been effective in the Eastern Conference Series against the Heat last year..

  • http://www.facebook.com/pastorjdminerella JD Minerella

    Most importantly Rondo will be back. I’m hoping that he learned some things while watching. He cannot dominate the ball like he usually does if the Celtics are going to succeed. There is a time for that, but he must learn to give up the ball a little more often. Pierce has to concede to being the 6th man. They’ve got to give the reigns to Jeff Green to see if he can be the player they hope he can be. Pierce may even end up more productive in a more limited role. Love the idea of bringing Perk back and having him share time with Garnett. The defense hasn’t been the same since he left. You can even play them together in certain spots. Sullinger will be back and you also have Bass as your PF’s. Gotta believe that Courtney Lee will be better in year 2, not so sure about an older Jason Terry. I think they should bring back Jason Collins and bring back Barbosa or another quality point guard. If they do that than I think they will contend. They still have plenty of heart and savvy, but they need the youth and a little more talent to challenge.

Red Sox Box Score
Red Sox Schedule
Baseball Analytics Blog
Red Sox Headlines
Red Sox Minor League News
Red Sox Team Leaders
MLB Headlines
Tips & Feedback

Verify