After falling last night 6-4, the Boston Red Sox look to get back on track in the second game of a three-game interleague set with the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FOX to 39% of the country. If you can't catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to it on the Red Sox radio network.

Jon Lester makes his ninth start of the season for manager Bobby Valentine. In his previous eight starts, Lester is 2-3 with a 3.71 ERA. He made one start against the Phillies in 2011 and picked up the win after firing seven shutout innings. He's had good success against the Phillies in his career as he is 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA (1 ER/21 IP) in three starts.  All three of those starts have come at Citizens Bank Park.

Joe Blanton makes his ninth appearance (eighth start) of 2012 for manager Charlie Manuel who returns to the bench after a one-game suspension. In his previous eight appearances (seven starts), Blanton is 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA. He didn't face the Red Sox in 2011 and last faced them in 2010 when he took the loss after allowing nine runs in just four innings of work. Blanton has made 10 career starts against the Red Sox and is 3-3 with a 4.70 ERA.

Click on the read more button below to see today's lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day if you're on the home page.

While Jonathan Papelbon and his Cinco Ocho alter-ego were hoping they would get a chance to shutdown his former Boston Red Sox teammates, I think collectively we were all hoping the new Philadelphia Phillies closer wouldn't get that chance. It's either that or we were hoping that if he did, he gave Phillies fans a heart attack like he did to us over the past six years.

It turned out Paps did get his chance and although it wasn't against the guys he really wanted to face, he got the job done to secure a 6-4 win for the Phillies on Friday night.

Despite out-hitting the Phillies 8-6 and out homering them 3-2, the Red Sox were done in by the inability of Daniel Bard to find the strike zone in the 1st inning. Actually he struggled with his command and location all game long but it was the that 1st inning where the Phillies did most of their damage.

He walked three of the first four batters he faced with the third one loading up the bases. The one who didn't reach, Juan Pierre, grounded out to second. Carlos Ruiz then singled in two runs, Ty Wigginton followed with a sac fly and that was followed by a John Mayberry RBI double. And just like that the Red Sox were trailing 4-0.

The Red Sox would claw back to within two runs when Mike Aviles homered off a Cole Hamels changeup in the 3rd inning and on Daniel Nava's sac fly in the 4th. But Hunter Pence would give the Phillies a three-run cushion with a monstrous solo blast in the 5th. Cody Ross (6th inning) and Adrian Gonzalez (8th inning) would add solo home runs of their own to cut the lead to 5-4.

But Franklin Morales finally turned mortal on the road and allowed a solo home run to Freddy Galvis that was enough cushion for Paps to do his job in the 9th.

I know that Daisuke Matsuzaka is supposedly not close enough to returning but the Red Sox do need to make a decision on what to do with him. Not only that but they'll also have Aaron Cook returning from the 15-day DL in a few days. Given the way the bullpen has pitched, it's hard to justify any one of them going down and unless an injury situation pops up for a starter, they decision won't be any easier.

I really don't see the Red Sox going with a six-man rotation at all. My personal feelings are that someone in the bullpen will have to be sent down with Bard going back down there, at least for the rest of the season. I think Bard can be a fine starter down the road but until he can workout his command issues, he's not really helping the Red Sox any more.

He was one of the most consistent starters earlier in the season but that's not the case now. He hasn't been able to strikeout as many batters as he did early on. Part of that is command and location, the other part is velocity.

We all knew there was going to be growing pains with him but there comes a time and a place where something needs to be done. If they do decide Dice-K is ready to contribute in the big leagues, it only makes sense to put Bard and not Felix Doubront back in the pen.

We'll be back later on today with today's lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let's take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

The New England Patriots signed 7th round draft pick S Alfonzo Dennard, known to his friends as “Fonzie” to a four-year contract.  Monetary terms were not disclosed but rumor is he’s down at Arnold’s buying the gang dinner.

Dennard, who played his college ball at Nebraska, is facing criminal charges stemming from an April 21 incident in Lincoln NE when he got into a fight with another man.  It took four officers to subdue him and he is facing charges for 3rd degree assault, 3rd degree assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

Head coach Bill Belichick said the team doesn’t believe that is the type of person Dennard is and that people make mistakes.  He added that they believe in him and have no issue with the charges.

The team also signed its other 7th round pick WR Jeremy Ebert of Northwestern, the team did not offer a contract to Richard Roeper.

Ebert also signed a four-year deal with the team and with these signings the team has locked up 3 of its 2012 draft picks.

Yet to sign are 1st round picks DE Chandler Jones and LB Dont’a Hightower, 3rd round pick DE Jake Bequette and 6th rounder S Nate Ebner.

The Patriots also announced they signed rookie free agent OL Jon Opperud out of Montana.  He is not to be confused with former Red Sox first baseman Jon Olerud.

The 6 foot 7, 300 pounder was originally signed on April 29th by Seattle but was released on Tuesday.  He can play either tackle or guard.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

After splitting a two-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox continue their eight-game road trip with the start of interleague play in the City of Brotherly Love. Tonight, they'll take on the Philadelphia Phillies in the first of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Phillies television market, you can catch the game on Comcast SportsNet Philly. And if you don't live in either market you are in luck as MLB Network will also have coverage of the game. If you can't catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to it on the Red Sox radio network.

Daniel Bard looks to even up his record in his eighth appearance (seventh start) of 2012. In his previous seven appearances (eight starts), Bard is 3-4 with a 4.30 ERA. Bard made one appearance in 2011 against the Phillies and had no record with 0.00 ERA (0 ER/1 IP). All of his four career appearances against the Phillies have come in the City of Brotherly Love where he has no record with a 9.82 ERA (4 ER/3.2 IP).

Cole Hamels has been solid for the Phillies this season and will be making his eighth start of the year. In his previous seven starts, Hamels is 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA. He made one appearance against the Red Sox in 2011 and picked up a no decision after four scoreless innings. Hamel has made four career starts against the Red Sox and is 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA (4 ER/25 IP).

Click on the read more button below to see today's lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day if you're on the home page.

“Sunday MLB on TBS” continues on May 20 with an Interleague match-up featuring David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox taking on Hunter Pence and the Philadelphia Phillies at 1:30 p.m. ET at Citizens Bank Park. Josh Beckett (2-4) is scheduled to start for the Red Sox against Phillies probable starter Cliff Lee (0-1). Calling the action will be Brian Anderson (play-by-play) and Dennis Eckersley (analyst).

In October, TBS will exclusively televise the American League and National League Wild Card games and will once again provide exclusive coverage of all four MLB Division Series (DS) and the American League Championship Series (ALCS).

TBS is also the exclusive home of the 2012 MLB All-Star Selection Show airing Sunday, July 1. The network will announce future games on its schedule coinciding with its selection windows. The games included in the TBS MLB package will not be televised in the team’s home television territory.

TBS has broadcast MLB games for more than 30 years, serving as the exclusive home of the MLB Division Series (DS) and one League Championship Series (LCS) since 2007 and home of Atlanta Braves coverage from 1977 to 2007.

SUNDAY MLB ON TBS SCHEDULE:

SUNDAY MLB ON TBS UPCOMING SCHEDULE: 

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One of the players, indirectly or directly responsible depending on your point of view, who played a role in Wednesday night's loss for the Boston Red Sox to the Tampa Bay Rays, was a big reason why the Red Sox were winners on Thursday night.

Obviously Clay Buchholz didn't balk in any runs last night so we are talking about Cody Ross. It was Ross who misjudged a fly ball the other night that allowed the Rays to get the winning run.

On Thursday night, he was huge at the plate.

After falling behind 0-2 with the bases loaded in the 1st inning against Rays starter Matt Moore, Ross got the count in his favor and eventually worked in a walk to force in a run. In the 3rd inning, his home run put the Red Sox up 3-0 after Marlon Byrd had homered in the 2nd to make it 2-0.

And with the Red Sox holding on to a 3-2 lead in the 8th, Ross knocked in two runs with a single to give them a little more breathing room.

It turned out they would need those two runs.

Vicente Padilla allowed a one-out double in the bottom half of the inning to Matthew Joyce then hit Rich Thompson. And after Ben Zobrist grounded into a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners, Bobby Valentine went to his closer Alfredo Aceves who came in and allowed a run scoring single to B.J. Upton. He escaped any further damage after a wild pitch when he got Luke Scott to ground out to second.

Aceves had no issues in the bottom of the 9th when he got three groundouts to preserve the win for Red Sox starter Felix Doubront.

After throwing the ball well on Saturday night, Doubront gave the Red Sox a solid 5.2 innings last night. He did have a rough 4th inning after relatively cruising through his first three innings although there was a small bump in the 3rd.

Doubront almost got through the 3rd by throwing just six pitches but unfortunately Kelly Shoppach was called for catcher's interference that allowed Upton to reach first. Then he hit Scott with a pitch and Jeff Keppinger followed with a run scoring single.

In the 4th, he got himself out of a mess he created when Scott lined out to Adrian Gonzalez to end the inning. That 4th inning ran up his pitch count and almost sent him to an early shower.

Before that though, Doubront was throwing well. He ended up striking out seven.

Obviously the high pitch counts for Doubront are a little troublesome. But when he's be on, he's been really effective. If he can work out his control issues when they do arise, he could end up being a very valuable weapon for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox are now off to Philadelphia where they'll meet up with old friend Jonathan Papelbon. Hopefully the Red Sox will get to face him and exact their revenge on him for leaving. I kid I kid. Or am I?

We'll be back later on today with today's lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let's take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.