OK. I have to get this off my chest. While I’m glad the Red Sox have, once again, defied my pessimistic predictions and made the playoffs, I’m not happy about the way they’ve gone about their business in the past week.To wit: I think they’ve been both arrogant and unprofessional. I can certainly understand wanting to rest your starters before the postseason, and the need to get your pitching lined up.But there is no excuse – none at all – for putting a virtual minor-league lineup on the field in Yankee Stadium, regardless of whether you’re on the cusp of clinching a playoff spot, you’ve already clinched, or you’re 10 games up or down.First, the Red Sox hadn’t clinched a thing when they got into New York last Friday. They could have, perhaps. But they played another one of those games in Kansas City like the one they played in Baltimore just before the All-Star break, when their relief pitchers took the night off and Manny Delcarmen began pitching the way Manny Ramirez has been hitting most of the year (some derivative of the word horse).Last Saturday, in a whale of a ballgame that Daisuke Matsuzaka and C.C. Sabathia had going, the Red Sox found themselves down, 1-0, in the eighth inning. Billy Wagner got into some trouble due to walks, but almost got out of the inning unscathed when a Yankee baserunner made a stupid play and got caught in a rundown.Now, they teach rundowns – I think – in T-Ball. And if they don’t, they start much earlier than in the major leagues.Some guy named Woodward (or maybe it was Bernstein) was playing shortstop, and got a perfect throw from Victor Martinez. All he had to do was catch the ball and tag the runner. Except he dropped it.Somehow, I don’t think Alex Gonzalez would have had the difficulty Woodward had. But apparently, it was his turn to rest.As a result, the Yankees loaded the bases – thanks to another walk by Wagner – and Johnny Damon (yeah, him, which only compounds the already-maddening frustration) flares one into right field for two runs. Mariano Rivera comes in, and, bing, bang, boom. Three outs. Ballgame over.And I only have one question ? well, two. First, who’s this guy Woodward? And why is he playing in a YANKEE game?I know. Manager Terry Francona wants to keep his players fresh, so he rested a bunch of them – at different times – over the weekend (such as sitting Martinez down against Andy Pettitte in favor of Jason “so far down below the Mendoza Line since June he can’t even find it” Varitek).Why? Listen, ‘Tek took someone else’s job back in 1997 and did it very well for 10 years. But it’s 2009 now, and ‘Tek appears to have caught too many games. By this time every season, he’s toast. He’s no longer your starting catcher. And he’s certainly not the guy you want behind the plate when the other guy who catches (Martinez) is the hottest hitter in baseball. And that goes double when you’re playing the Yankees ? regardless of when it is.I like Francona. And it’s hard to second-guess the manager who’s presided over two world championships, especially since the last guy to do it managed in 1918. But there is such a thing as hubris. Sometimes, you can be so clever you outfox even yourself. Let’s hope Francona hasn’t done this by throwing woefully insufficient lineups – such as the one he put on the field to face Roy Halladay the other night – out there.I know. They’d already clinched. But you know what? They don’t reduce ticket prices on the nights after the team clinches. Fans who pay that money deserve to see a major-league product on the field ? just like the fans who plunked down a month’s rent to fill those luxury seats at Yankee Stadium last weekend deserved to see two great rivals going head to head, instead of some guy named Woodward.Or maybe it was Bernstein.Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.