It's Patriots' Day in Boston, which means two things: the Boston Marathon and ... more angst over $142 million man Carl Crawford.
Saturday was a day off for the Red Sox's prize free agent acquisition to clear his head. Sunday, Crawford back in the leadoff spot and the Red Sox won, despite his 0 for 4 performance that dropped his batting average to .127.

But today's special 11 a.m. first pitch only made manager Terry Francona's latest decision to try and fix Crawford come all the sooner. Today, Crawford will be back in the No. 7 hole in the series finale against Toronto.
In an interesting wrinkle, the Red Sox will stick J.D. Drew in the leadoff slot against the Blue Jays' left-hander, Ricky Romero.
As for Crawford? As Francona told news reporters:
"Right now he's having a tough time, and when you're leading off it gets magnified. Moving him down should help him. If he doesn't get hits it should lessen the burden."
Of course, Francona tried that once -- in just the third game of the season -- and while that sort of worked for one game, clearly it didn't do much long-term good. Crawford went 2 for 4 out of the seven-hole, but is a combined 5 for 51 when batting first, second or third.
The questions: Is Francona's proactive approach proper, or creating a constant state of panic? Should he just stick Crawford in the first, second or third spot and ride with it?
For what it's worth, Crawford made all his starts for Tampa Bay out of the No. 2 hole last year. Perhaps he thrives with familiarity.
The Red Sox certainly must stumble upon a solution soon. Or this season will become a marathon, indeed.

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