Crawford Set To Make Red Sox Debut Against Twins
FORT MYERS, Fla (CBS) - What a difference a uniform can make.
"I (expletive deleted) hated you, now I love you," manager Terry Francona said of his new left fielder Carl Crawford. "I've always liked him. He's had some days were we've had a tough time with him. Hopefully now it'll happen to other teams."
Those days could start for the Red Sox on Monday, when Crawford makes his spring debut for his new team against the Minnesota Twins at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida.
Crawford will bat third and play left field.
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Monday marks Boston's second straight game against the Twins, as the two teams battle for this year's Mayor's Cup. Both call Fort Myers their spring home, and have held the yearly battle since 1993. Although the Twins have won 10 of the 18 Mayor's Cup, the Red Sox have won the last four.
The Red Sox dropped the first Mayor's Cup battle Sunday night with an 8-4 loss. After the two teams meet for the third straight day on Tuesday, they'll meet again on March 11th with the series concluding on March 26th.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia will bat 1-2 in Monday's lineup, and Francona used the cross-town battle as the reason.
"We're just trying to win the Mayor's cup. We front loaded it today of obvious reasons. Panic is setting in," the Sox manager joked.
