Pregame notes from Francona

Red Sox manager Terry Francona just finished his pregame meeting with the local media, and there’s not much to report. Francona praised Mark Kotsay’s defense at first, said Mike Lowell realized his hip was just too painful to play through, and spent a decent amount of time addressing the adjustments to Josh Beckett’s between-starts regimen. Here are the lineups: RED SOX 1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury 2. 2B Dustin Pedroia 3. DH David Ortiz 4. 3B Kevin Youkilis 5. RF J.D. Drew 6. LF... [read full story]