Sox return home after .500 road trip

LA Angels (52-49)at Red Sox (61-39)
at Fenway Park 7:05 PM
Escobar (6-9, 3.88 ERA) vs. Lester (5-0, 3.04 ERA)

Line-ups

Angels

Izturis 3B
Kendrick 2B
Cabrera SS
Guerrero RF
Rivera CF
Anderson LF
Salmon DH
Napoli C
Quinlan 1B

Escobar P

Red Sox

Youkilis 1B
Loretta 2B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Nixon RF
Varitek C
Lowell 3B
Crisp CF
Gonzalez SS

Lester P

Notes: David Wells will pitch on Monday against the Cleveland Indians here at Fenway Park...He's not expected to be on a pitch count, and the team hopes to get him as deep into the game as possible..Kyle Snyder will pitch on Tuesday...As the trade winds blow manager Terry Francona made it pretty clear that the team won't trade any of their young arms, (that includes Jon Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Jon Lester, and Manny Delcarmen)....Francona also seemed to feel that Milwaukee got the best of the deal where they sent slugger Carlos Lee to Texas in exchange for outfielders Laynce Nix, and Kevin Mench, as well as reliever Francisco Cordero, "Pretty good trade for Milwaukee, potentially," said the Sox skipper...Forecast is shaky for tonight with thunderstorms possible at any point during the first couple of hours...Keith Foulke will pitch tonight in Lowell, and Sunday in Pawtucket, then if all goes well he should rejoin the team on Monday...

On the Block: Potential Sox who could be packing their bags come Monday

- Trot Nixon: Last year of his contract, and isn't expected to be re-signed. Sox feel they can potentially get more production out of the 5th spot in their line-up, and could either use Wily Mo Pena there for the rest of the year or use Nixon as a part of a deal to land either of two Phillies starters, Jon Lieber or Corey Lidle, as well as either Pat Burrell or Bobby Abreu. Other than Pena, Nixon is the most likely Sox starter to be moved.

-Wily Mo Pena: Pena is young (24) and cheap (around $400,000) he's also shown a good bat when he's played. The Sox may move him with Nixon, and a minor league pitcher, in exchange for a right-fielder and some pitching. Will Theo trade Pena and admit he made a mistake in trading Bronson Arroyo for him? We'll see.

-Mike Lowell: It makes so much sense to trade him right now. Lowell is owed nearly 10 million dollars for next year, and with his bounce back year he now has some value on the market compared to last year's deadline when no one would take up the Marlins on a package deal of A.J. Burnett and Lowell.

-Coco Crisp: It's way to early to give up on Coco, but he's locked in at a fairly low price for the next three years, and his production in Boston hasn't been great. If a good deal comes up the Sox won't blink before trading him.

Sox Needs: Starting pitcher, big bat for 5th spot to protect Manny and make line-up fearsome, lefty reliever, back up first baseman, and speedster.

Guys to watch:

-Jon Lieber, it's been a down year, but he's shown he can pitch in the AL East with what he did in the '04 pennant race.

-Pat Burrell, a righty slugger who would be ideal with that big ole left field wall.

-Damaso Marte, the lefty reliever who helped push the White Sox over the top last year.

I'll check in with updates this weekend. ttyl-Chris