NEW YORK — As the Red Sox approach mid-August still very much alive in the playoff race but contending with a variety of ailments, Terry Francona's job has turned into a balancing act.
On a daily basis, the skipper must weigh his desire to throw the best lineup out there with his need to keep players fresh.
Francona likes to use the line "We'll do what we think is right." That logic applies each time he fills out the lineup card.
For instance, take Sunday night in Yankee Stadium. Mike Lowell had played three straight games at first base, just about the limit for him with his ailing hip. Victor Martinez, who has played in every game since returning from the disabled list late last month, could use a night removed from his catching duties.
Lowell sits. Martinez moves to first. Kevin Cash comes off the bench to catch Josh Beckett.
"Being able to put Victor at first keeps that bat in the lineup and it also hopefully keeps him fresh enough where we're not overwhelming him catching," Francona said before later turning his attention to Lowell.
"We just want to give him the best chance to be productive."
With Kevin Youkilis sidelined for the rest of the season, this will be a daily task for Francona. It's not limited to those on the active roster, however.
Youkilis has already been begging to return to the team just two days after season-ending surgery to repair his injured thumb. The organization has had to tell a recovering Youkilis to wait a bit before coming back, essentially squashing his desire to be around the fellas.
"He's really fighting to get back here," Francona said.
This sort of charade has played out for about a month with Dustin Pedroia. The All-Star second baseman tried like heck to beat the six-week time frame to return from a broken left foot. Now that that date has come and gone, he continues to do everything he can to get back on the field.
And Francona continues to do everything he can to make sure it doesn't happen too soon.
After running the bases at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Pedroia will be scaled back for a day and then run again Tuesday in Toronto.
"The next step is kind of continuing to do what he's doing now but more aggressively, with more intensity, and then repeating," Francona said. "He's done everything but run at full speed."
Full speed. That's a gear every player wants to be in every single day. But in order to give his team a chance down the stretch, Francona has to slow them down every so often.
