As Red Sox manager Terry Francona suggested during his interview on the Dale & Holley show, David Ortiz will take the field at first base for the Red Sox in the middle game of their three-game set in Washington. Mike Lowell will rest for the fourth time in the last five days (three games out of the lineup plus an off day), with Kevin Youkilis moving from first to third base.
 
RED SOX
 
Pedroia, 2B
Drew, RF
Youkilis, 3B
Bay, LF
Ortiz, 1B
Varitek, C
Ellsbury, CF
Green, SS
Lester, SP
 
NATIONALS
 
Willie Harris, CF
Christian Guzman, SS
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
Nick Johnson, 1B
Josh Willingham, LF
Elijah Dukes, RF
Anderson Hernandez, 2B
Wil Nieves, C
Craig Stammen, SP

Red Sox manager Terry Francona, in his weekly visit on the Dale & Holley Show, said that David Ortiz would return to the lineup and play first base tonight against the Nationals, with Kevin Youkilis sliding across the diamond to play third. Mike Lowell will sit, a development that Francona suggested could be positive for the long term given that the third baseman is eight months removed from surgery on his right hip.
 

Francona also disputed a report that pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was not on the Red Sox' shoulder program for pitchers. The manager suggested that participation in the program, under the oversight of assistant trainer Mike Reinold, is "non-negotiable," and that suggestions that Matsuzaka was not following that program were inaccurate.