The Red Sox suffered another blow to their postseason chances when third basemen Mike Lowell suffered a strained right oblique in Boston’s wild 19-17 victory over the Texas Rangers Tuesday night at Fenway. The BoSox are likely to place Lowell on the disabled list as soon as today.

Lowell suffered the injury on a pair of swings in a seventh-inning at-bat and was removed from the game after striking out. He was moving gingerly after the game and was due to undergo an MRI this morning. Oblique injuries are generally slow to heal, and the fact that Lowell also has been slowed by a sore right hip probably clinches a two-week layoff on the DL.
“It’s frustrating because I’ve never had this happen before,” Lowell said. “I’d like to avoid (the DL), but the doc said it’s a possibility. I think right now it’s probably too early. (Today) after the MRI, they’ll have a lot more information.”

If Lowell lands on the disabled list, the Sox may opt to shift Kevin Youkilis [stats] over to third base and have Sean Casey take over at first. Then they probably would call up utility man Joe Thurston from Pawtucket or make a waiver-wire trade for a veteran infielder.

Losing Lowell hurts, but the Sox could be worse off than Youkilis and Casey at the corners. Casey has been known to turn up his game heading into the postseason and he’s not terrible defensively. Boston can thank the baseball gods for depth.