Boston Red Sox

2007 Record: 96-66 (.593)
2007 Pythagorean Record: 103-59 (.635)

Manager: Terry Francona
General Manager: Theo Epstein

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Fenway Park (106/105)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

Jacoby Ellsbury replaces Coco Crisp in center field (sometimes)
Sean Casey replaces Erik Hinske
Kevin Cash replaces Doug Mirabelli
Jon Lester replaces Curt Schilling (DL)
Clay Buchholz replaces the starts of Julian Tavarez (bullpen) and Kason Gabbard
David Aardsma replaces Mike Timlin (DL)
Bryan Corey replaces Kyle Snyder

25-man Roster:

1B – Sean Casey (L)
2B – Dustin Pedroia (R)
SS – Julio Lugo (R)
3B – Kevin Youkilis (R)
C – Jason Varitek (S)
RF – J.D. Drew (L)
CF – Jacoby Ellsbury (L)
LF – Manny Ramirez (R)
DH – David Ortiz (L)

Bench:

S – Coco Crisp (OF)
L – Alex Cora (IF)
S – Jed Lowrie (IF)
R – Kevin Cash (C)

Rotation:

R – Josh Beckett
R – Daisuke Matsuzaka
L – Jon Lester
R – Tim Wakefield
R – Clay Buchholz

Bullpen:

R – Jon Papelbon
L – Hideki Okajima
R – Manny Delcarmen
L – Javier Lopez
R – Julian Tavarez
R – David Aardsma
R – Bryan Corey

15-day DL: R – Mike Lowell (3B), R – Mike Timlin
60-day DL: R – Curt Schilling

Lineup:

R – Dustin Pedroia (2B)
R – Kevin Youkilis (3B)
L – David Ortiz (DH)
R – Manny Ramirez (LF)
L – J.D. Drew (RF)
S – Jason Varitek (C)
L – Jacoby Ellsbury (CF)
L – Sean Casey (1B)
R – Julio Lugo (SS)

The Yankees and Red Sox will play five of their 18 head-to-head regular season games this season in the span of one week starting tonight. Both teams enter tonight’s game with 5-5 records. Both have been outscored on the season thus far. Both teams are also coping with some early-season aches and pains.

The Yankees have been without Derek Jeter for three games due to a strained quad and have had Jorge Posada only intermittently due to a sore throwing shoulder, but haven’t placed either player on the DL (Jeter’s out again tonight, Posada will DH as Johnny Damon gets his first day off this season). The Red Sox just put third baseman Mike Lowell on the DL following a thumb injury he suffered in Wednesday night’s game. That move shifts Kevin Youkilis to third base and inserts Sean Casey in the lineup. The Sox are also dealing with David Ortiz’s continuing knee problems as the big DH is hitting a Giambi-like .083/.267/.167 thus far this season with just three hits in 45 plate appearances, but nine walks.

Given those bumps and bruises and assorted slow starts, neither team is doing a particularly good job of scoring runs thus far. The Sox are a tick below league average, scoring 4.2 runs per game while the Yankees remain the second-worst offense in baseball in the early going, ranking ahead of only the Giants’ Quadruple-A squad. On the flip side, the Yankees rank fifth in the AL in preventing runs, allowing just 3.9 per game, while the Red Sox early-season struggles have been primarily due to their pitching, which is the fourth most permissive in the league.

Then again, Daisuke Matsuzaka has allowed just three runs in three starts, two of them coming in the season opener in Tokyo, and Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz, both of whom will face the Yankees twice in the next week, have only made one start a piece thus far. Buchholz, who starts tonight against Chien-Ming Wang, struck out seven against just two walks in five innings in his first start of the year up in Toronto, but was undone by a Sean Casey error in the fourth inning that lead to three runs.

Beyond their weak performances thus far, these two teams are not only very evenly matched, but also very similarly constructed. Emerging young star at second base? Check and check. Emerging young talent in center field? Check and check. A lineup built around one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball? Check and check. A 36-year-old switch-hitting catcher? Check and check. A pair of youngsters in the rotation, one a potential ace and one projected as a reliable mid-rotation starter? Check and check. A grizzled veteran with a fastball in the mid-80s occupying another rotation spot? Check and check. An Asian ace holding the rotation together in the meantime? Check and check. One of the best closers in the game and an ace set-up man who came out of nowhere to cause a sensation last year? Check and check.

Hopefully when these two teams meet again in July, I can do a more detailed position-by-position breakdown. For now, I’d call things pretty even, giving the Yankees an edge on the bench for the first time in recent memory, but admitting that they don’t really have a counterweight for Josh Beckett in the rotation, a fact exacerbated by the fact that Wang has a 6.17 ERA and 1.86 WHIP in Fenway on his career and has never escaped Boston with fewer than three runs allowed. On the other hand, the Yankees own Hideki Okajima (8.38 ERA, 1.86 WHIP in 9 2/3 innings), which tips the bullpen balance toward the Yankees considerably.

Buchholz makes his first start against the Yankees tonight and just his third ever at Fenway. The last two were his major league debut and his no-hitter against the Orioles. Here’s hoping Wang can conjure up the strikeout stuff he had in his last start (6 Ks in 6 IP) to make tonight less memorable the for the 23-year-old Bosox rookie.