Will an injured Lowell and/or Drew hurt more than help?

Francona has yet to announce the 25-man roster that will take on the Angels tomorrow night, but announce a few names that will NOT be on the roster:

Devern Hansack, David Pauley, and David Aardsma will be going to pitch in the instructional league in Fort Myers, Fla. Hansack and Pauley will be stretched out as starters, while Aardsma pitches in relief. Chris Smith and George Kottaras will be heading home. That leaves the rest of the roster going to Anaheim, where the team will announce its 25 players for the first round by the 10 a.m. deadline tomorrow...

That leaves: Ortiz, Youk, Pedroia, Lowrie, Casey, Cora, Tek, Cash, Bay, Ellsbury, Coco, Kotsay ... and ... Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka, Wake, Byrd, Papelbon, Okajima, Matserson, Delcarmen, Lopez, Timlin ... Lowell and Drew = 25.

Mike Lowell (hip) and JD Drew (back) participated in the option practice yesterday. Lowell and Drew both took BP, but the real test for Lowell will be how the hip feels while fielding groundballs:

"I feel pretty good," Lowell said. "It's not really bothering me to swing, so I think today was more just getting into the flow of trying to get ready for the game. Then tomorrow will be a big day for me 'cause I'm going to take ground balls and see how that goes. That will give me a lot more information on how things are going.

"I'd definitely like to [play in Game 1], but I've got to see how I'm moving defensively. But I'm anticipating something good."

Bottom Line: The Sox held it together with guys like Lowrie, Coco, Youk and Kotsay filling in for Lowell and Drew, but if healthy, the Sox are a better team with these guys in the lineup... the question is: If they aren't healthy, will they hurt the team more than they will help?