Garciaparra has played in every game but one and Crosby has made his first-ever major league appearances in right field, at third base, and on Monday, second base. In the first inning, playing in a shift with Boston's David Ortiz up, Crosby fielded a grounder in short right field and threw Ortiz out.

Geren said he'll check with his veteran players regularly to see if they need any rest, and he trusts them to give him an accurate assessment. Garciaparra, because of all his regular work, will be among the players Geren monitors given that he has lost so much playing time to injuries the last several years.

Giambi complained of sore legs over the weekend after doing a great deal of running on the basepaths on Friday night and Saturday. When Giambi is the designated hitter, as he has been three times, Garciaparra is at first base. Crosby made his big-league debut at second base to start Monday night, and he made his first-ever appearance at first base in the ninth inning.

Rajai Davis has gotten three starts in center field in the first seven games, in part because right fielder Travis Buck is off to a slow start (1-for-11).

A'S 8, RED SOX 2: Oakland entered Monday's game having stranded a major league leading 58 runners, but the A's scored five times in the second off Jon Lester as Orlando Cabrera, Jason Giambi and Matt Holliday all provided hits with men in scoring position. Nomar Garciaparra started at third for Oakland and, in his first career appearance against his former club, hit his first home run as a member of the A's -- and in the same park, the Oakland Coliseum, where he'd collected his first big-league hit and his first big-league homer while with Boston in 1996.