Francona makes change top priority

MINNEAPOLIS -- Baseball is a numbers game more than any other sport and the numbers victimized Coco Crisp yesterday.

The Sox' supposed leadoff hitter of the present and future was lowered, for an unspecified duration, to the eighth spot in the order, while Kevin Youkilis and his .434 on-base percentage returned to the top spot. The decision is a tough one to argue -- Youkilis's batting average (.314 ) entering last night nearly equaled Crisp's on-base percentage (.320 ). Youkilis's on-base percentage was 114 points better than Crisp's.

The move came one night after Crisp went 0 for 6 with two strikeouts and a double-play ground out in a 5-2, 12-inning loss, though manager Terry Francona said he probably would have made the change regardless of Tuesday's outcome.

How long will this last? ``I don't know, I really don't know," Francona said. ``It depends how we play."

Why the decision? ``Coco, I think his feet are kind of jumping around on him a little bit," Francona said. ``It looks like he's trying a little too hard. In the meantime, it's hard to ignore Youk's on-base percentage. I think this way we let Coco settle in, and the other thing is we can let him run a little more freely down there [in the order] without the big guys coming up. Maybe we get a little bit of an advantage on both ends."

Here's how Youkilis and Crisp have each performed out of the leadoff spot this year, before last night's 8-1 loss, according to statistician Chuck Waseleski:

Crisp: 88 at-bats, 14 runs, 24 hits, 5 walks, 17 K's, 0 HRs, 5 RBIs, .273 batting, .312 OBP, .341 slugging.

Youkilis: 158 at-bats, 37 runs, 51 hits, 32 walks, 34 K's, 5 HRs, 17 RBIs, .323 batting, .440 OBP, .506 slugging.

However, Crisp went into last night batting .412 with a .444 on-base percentage when leading off any inning, regardless of where he was hitting in the order. He improved on those numbers in the fifth inning when he led off with a home run to right against Brad Radke.

Youkilis, in such situations, was batting .286 with a .398 OBP. The Red Sox are 11-8 (.579) with Crisp leading off and 23-18 (.561) with Youkilis leading off. They are 2-1 in games in which neither player led off.

``I said something to Coco," Francona said of the decision. ``I know Youk just checks the lineup when he comes in. He won't care. I just want to try to do what's right for our guys and our team at the right time.

``I don't think [Coco's] quite as comfortable as he'll get. In the meantime we've got a guy with about a .450 on-base percentage. That's kind of hard to ignore."

Youkilis made the manager look good by singling to start the game. Youkilis's two hits gave him 22 multihit games this season.

Does Francona still think Crisp is the long-term solution in the leadoff spot? ``I still do," he said. ``I just think for right now our team plays better doing this for a little while. Who knows how long? We're trying to score as many runs as we can. This might be the best way."

Remember when Keith Foulke was mowing down lefties? That was late April. Into May and June Foulke was being hit around by lefties and Tuesday he went on the disabled list with elbow tendinitis. Where does that leave the Sox when they have a couple of tough lefthanded hitters coming to bat in the mid to late innings?

``I don't have an answer," Francona said before last night's game. ``I'm kind of hopeful . . ."

He paused momentarily before explaining how he hopes to bring along Manny Delcarmen, who went into last night quite ineffective against righties (10 for 24, .417) but effective against lefties (4 for 17 .235). After using Jonathan Papelbon and Mike Timlin Tuesday, Francona turned to Julian Tavarez in the 12th inning with Joe Mauer (lefthanded), Michael Cuddyer (righthanded), and Justin Morneau (lefthanded) coming up. The fifth batter of the inning, lefthanded-hitting Jason Kubel, hit a game-deciding grand slam.

``I didn't [use Delcarmen Tuesday] because I thought it would have been a mistake," Francona said.

``If the same thing happens to Manny that happened to Tavarez -- I didn't sleep good last night anyway -- I would have had a harder time because it's a young kid.

``We'll try to give the younger kids a little more rope in some situations and see if they can, because it is part of our future, sooner than later. Some of the dilemma is how to bring them along."

Francona, keeping to his word, brought Delcarmen in with the bases loaded and one out to face slugger Justin Morneau in the sixth inning last night. Morneau, like Kubel the night before him, hit a grand slam. It was the first major-league homer Delcarmen ever allowed.

Alex Gonzalez is heating up. The shortstop is hitting .240, the highest he'd been since he was batting .308 three games into the season. Gonzalez is 8 for 20 (.400) in his last five games and 19 for 58 (.328) in his last 15 games. He singled in his first at-bat last, giving him at least one hit in five consecutive games . . . The 10 walks issued by Sox pitchers tied a season high. Sox pitchers failed to strike out a single Twin . . . Matt Clement failed to last five innings for the third time in four starts . . . Minnesota has won six of seven meetings at the Metrodome, and seven of their last eight meetings overall . . . Some quality pitching matchups this weekend at Atlanta: Jon Lester vs. Tim Hudson tomorrow, Josh Beckett vs. Horacio Ramirez Saturday, and Curt Schilling vs. John Smoltz Sunday . . . Kubel's grand slam Tuesday was the ninth walkoff grand slam against the Sox since 1966.

IMAGES AND INFO: For photos from last night's game and updates heading into tonight's contest, go to www.boston.com/redsox.