Francona was asked in a separate press conference about the Sports Illustrated report on Josh Beckett and the alleged torn oblique muscle.

"When the media chooses to be not completely professional, we get put in a tough position ... It's not true," Francona said.

On his lineup's approach against Kazmir, Francona said:

"The way we're consitituted, we're a little bit left-handed for a guy that really handles left-handers.

E"llsbury led off last time. He's not playing. So we'll let Coco lead off at the top and we'll keep 2-3-4-5 where they normally hit. Then try to have some balance.

"When we've had success against Kazmir it's by grinding and grinding and get him out of the game. We need to be aware of that. Try to get to the bullpen before they want to.

"Lefty-righty against Kazmir is so distinct. It's a vast difference."

Right-handers are batting .227 against Kazmir. Left-handers are hitting .198 against him.

Why not bat Pedroia leadoff?

"If we had hit Pedroia first then, I'm stating the obvious, you need to find somebody to hit second. Then all of a sudden, we're changing everything. I didn't think made sense."

On benching Ellsbury: "I just think our best way to go is play Coco tonight. I don't think (Ellsbury) will view it that we've lost confidence in him. We're trying to win a game. And he'll probably end up getting into this game."

On the Rays' offense: "When you make a mistake, they have not missed it. The last thing you want to do is have any team gain confidence. We're going to have to derail that. Because they feel very good about themselves."

THE LINEUPS:
RAYS
Akinoria Iwamura, 2B
B.J. Upton, CF
Carlos Pena, 1B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Carl carwford, LF
Cliff Floyd, DH
Dioner Navarro, C
Gabe Gross, RF
Jason Bartlett, SS
(Scott Kazmir, P)

RED SOX
Coco Crisp, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
Jason Bay, LF
J.D. Drew, RF
Jed Lowrie, SS
Jason Varitek, C
Mark Kotsay, 1B
(Daisuke Matsuzaka, P)

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