Market is cool

As Middlebrooks sees his playing time reduced, Youkilis is hitting .219 with a meager .674 OPS in the 19 games he has played since coming off the disabled list May 22.

If the Red Sox were hoping these games would be a showcase of his trade value, just the opposite has happened.

“The reality is there’s nothing going on,’’ general manager Ben Cherington said on WEEI. “We’ve talked to teams about several things. Yeah, teams have called to check in on Youk. That was a while back, right before he went out on his rehab assignment.

“Right now we’re just focused on getting Kevin going.’’

Youkilis has three hits in his last 30 at-bats and sat out Wednesday’s game against the Marlins with sore ribs.

Few familiar faces

The Red Sox will play their second-ever series at Wrigley Field starting Friday afternoon when Daisuke Matsuzaka faces Ryan Dempster.

The Sox lost two of three games to the Cubs at Wrigley June 10-12, 2005. Dempster, who got the save in the second game of that series, is the only player still on the Chicago roster.

Dempster is 1-1 with a 7.13 earned run average in four career appearances against the Red Sox, the last coming in 2005.

Matsuzaka has never faced the Cubs, and only four of their hitters have experience against him. David DeJesus is 4 of 9, Luis Valbuena 3 of 9, Reed Johnson 1 of 3, and Worcester native Bryan LaHair 1 of 3 against the righthander.

Matsuzaka will be making his second start of the season as he returns from Tommy John surgery. He went five innings and allowed four runs against the Nationals Saturday, striking out eight.

Bard’s work solid