You can blame some of the Red Sox’ recent on-field troubles on their health.
First, David Ortiz went down for a week with bursitis in his right heel.
Now Kevin Youkilis is landing on the 15-day DL with soreness in his lower back.
The team called up catcher/DH Ryan Lavarnway to fill his roster spot. Lavarnway, who has 30 home runs in the minors this year, is the starting DH Thursday night at Kansas City.
“He’s just been so beat up,” manager Terry Francona said of Youkilis. “When it got to the back part it just
overwhelmed him. Hopefully two weeks down will really allow his body to
come back and then we can have the Youk that we need for the stretch
drive.”
They could sure use it. Boston, loser of five of its last seven, has fallen to second place in the AL East. They’re half a game behind the Yankees going into Thursday night’s action.
