--RHP Josh Beckett has been pushed back to starting Game 3 of the Division Series after reportedly suffering a right oblique strain during a bullpen session Friday. Beckett had been expected to pitch Game 1 of the series, but LHP Jon Lester will pitch that game instead and RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka will pitch Game 2. Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday.
--RF J.D. Drew, who played just twice in the Red Sox's final 40 games due to a stiff lower back, took batting practice Monday in Boston. He might be in the lineup in the postseason opener Wednesday. --3B Mike Lowell took batting practice Monday in Boston, and he might be in the lineup Wednesday during the playoff opener at Anaheim. Lowell has accumulated only one at-bat since leaving the Sept. 16 game with a sore right hip, and he could be used as a pinch hitter even if he's not healthy enough to play third base. Lowell has been playing with a partially torn labrum in the hip for several months and finished the regular season with a .274 batting average, 17 home runs and 73 RBIs.
--LHP Jon Lester finished the regular season with a host of impressive statistics in a 16-win breakthrough season, but perhaps nothing was starker than his final/home road splits for 2008. Lester was 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA at Fenway Park and 5-5 with a 4.09 ERA while pitching on the road. Conversely, RHP Josh Beckett was 7-5 with a 2.85 ERA in 15 starts on the road and 5-5 with a 5.65 ERA at home. Despite the less than perfect road statistics, Lester has been tapped to pitch Game 1 of the Division Series at Anaheim on Wednesday night.
--1B Sean Casey smashed a two-run single in Boston's Sunday night victory and has collected at least one hit in 10 of his last 12 games. He finished the season with a .322 batting average and 17 RBI in 69 games off the bench. While Casey has been a spare part for much of his first season in Boston, he could be getting some playing time in the playoffs if 3B Mike Lowell's hip injury keeps him on the bench.
BY THE NUMBERS: 1-8 -- Red Sox's record against their Division Series opponent, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, this season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I think everyone in this organization takes a lot of pride and is really personally happy for him and what he's been able to accomplish. He's obviously come through a bumpy road, but you see the diligence and the work ethic and he really just has a genuine interest in learning. He's really just a very humble guy. There isn't a lot of braggadocio and he doesn't draw a lot of attention to himself, and he's a guy you can very easily root for. I think many people that have come across him along the way share that very same pride." -- Pitching coach John Farrell, talking about the pride associated with Jon Lester's 16-win season.
