"Riding high at 55-35 in first place in the American League East, the Red Sox start the second half of the season tonight on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays, Carl Crawford's former team. But Crawford, the Red Sox' lavishly-paid left fielder, won't be in St. Petersburg, Fla., to take in his old hardball haunts.

The $142-million man, who has been out since June 18 with a hamstring strain, will commence his second-half in Pawtucket, R.I., tonight making the first of two rehab appearances at Triple A before he (hopefully) returns to action Monday in Baltimore. Too bad. Familiar surroundings may have been exactly what Crawford needed to make sure he played like an All-Star, post-All-Star break.

For all the gushing and gasping over Adrian Gonzalez instantly boosting the Sox lineup with his batting exploits, it's easy to forget that Crawford was supposed to be just as significant an addition as A-Gon. He was AL-East battle-tested. He was coming off the best season of his career, a season in which he hit a career-high 19 home runs, drove in a career-high 90 runs and won his first Gold Glove. He was going to continue the tradition of superb Red Sox left fielders. He said his biggest adjustment to playing in Boston would be the cold weather.

We can debate the sagacity of handing a seven-year, $142-million contract to a corner outfielder who has never hit 20 home runs in a season later, but what is without debate is that the Sox are still waiting for the player they thought they signed to arrive. Crawford is batting .243 with six homers and 31 runs batted in, numbers that actually look good after he hit -- using the term generously -- .155 in April.

Perhaps more mystifying than his slow start at the plate is his slow pace on the base paths. A four-time AL stolen base champion, Crawford, who always ran against the Red Sox with impunity, has half as many steals (eight) as Dustin Pedroia, the guy with screws in his surgically-repaired left foot."