Dempster to Pitch Instead of Lester

Ryan Dempster steps into the 2nd half limelight tonight on ESPN to face CC Sabathia. Dempster is moving up in place of Jon Lester who has general fatigue according to the Red Sox website. Sabathia is not having his usual dominant year & he is coming off his worst outing against the Twins before the break. Dempster is coming off a stinker of a performance last time out as well. Both veterans have the ability to stymie batters. We'll see which one is on their game tonight. The series win is in the balance tonight before the Sox start a big series with the surging Rays. The Rays are surging in part because they are playing teams under .500, so we'll see how the fare against a more competitive Sox team this week. Don't count the Red Sox short!