Mike Lowell of the Red Sox put on the disabled list

The first place Boston Red Sox (yeah that's right Yankees fans!) took another injury hit to one of their key players today.  Mike Lowell recently has experienced pain in his hip that he had surgically repaired in the off season and has sat out the last few games.  He now goes on the 15 day disabled list with a hip strain and will be replaced by utility guy Jeff Bailey.

The Sox took a hit to their starting pitching rotation when Daisuke Matsuzaka went on the DL earlier this month.  But that wasn't a major hit to the team because of the depth of the pitching rotation and because Daisuke had sucked this season.   Mike Lowell being out, depending on how long he is out, could hurt the Sox ability to score runs.  Lowell has hit 10 homers so far with 41 RBI, and is second on the team in hits with 75.  While he can be replaced at third defensively with Kevin Youklis, Jeff Bailey and Mark Kotsay probably will not hit as well as Lowell.

So that means the Sox will have to count on David Ortiz to continue to improve his hitting and hope that Jason Bay keeps it going.  Ortiz has picked it up recently after having a horrid first 2 months of the season.  He now has 8 homers and has lifted his average to .221.  Hopefully this will push the Sox into getting another good bat in the lineup before the trading deadline, because while pitching wins games you still need to push across a few runs.  But for now they are looking good...did I mention they were in first place?