The Boston Red Sox were unable to complete the sweep of the Atlanta Braves yesterday afternoon as they ran into a strong pitching performance by young phenom Tommy Hanson. The Red Sox finished up interleague play at 11-7 and now find themselves with a 3-game lead in the AL East over the New York Yankees.

Despite taking the loss yesterday, Brad Penny gave the Red Sox another quality start. Unfortunately for him, the only mistakes he made while pitching were hit for home runs by Chipper Jones and Garrett Anderson. Penny has definitely given the Red Sox more than they expected this season. He continues to battle each time out there and gives the Red Sox a chance to win. That’s all you can ask of him.

I would like to see him be able to go deeper into games though as he’s usually good for 5-6 innings. But with the Red Sox bullpen being one of the best, if not the best, there shouldn’t be too much concern about how long Penny lasts.

And finally, Joe Morgan said on the Yankees/Mets telecast on ESPN last night that the Red Sox were stumbling as of late. Ummmm Joe, the Red Sox are 17-7 in the month of June and are 6-4 in their last 10 games, which just happens to be the same as the Yankees. Too bad the guys at Fire Joe Morgan aren’t doing the site anymore. I’m sure they’d have a field day with this.

Some members of the Red Sox need your help as the American League All-Star balloting winds down. So go vote Red Sox. And my friend Kristen would really appreciate it if you could vote for the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman at third base and Adam Dunn in the outfield in the NL voting.

All in all, you had to hand it to Penny [Boston Globe]

Red Sox’ sweep deprivation [Boston Herald]

Despite early scare, Penny delivers another sharp performance [Providence Journal]

End game vexes Red Sox again [Boston Globe]

Brad Penny has a lost art [Boston Herald]

Boston shedding no tears over end of interleague play [Providence Journal]

Feeling uneasy the rule vs. NL [Boston Globe]

Mike Lowell’s ailing hip gets gel [Boston Herald]

Red Sox are believers in rookie phenom Tommy Hanson [Providence Journal]

No more interruptions [Boston Herald]

Five Things We Learned: Red Sox Are in the Market For Some Certainty [Rob Bradford - WEEI.com]

Sox ready to resume facing usual clubs [RedSox.com]

Lowrie forced to leave PawSox game with knee problem, should sit out tomorrow [Projo Sox Blog]

Video: Tubby baseball fan tackled during Red Sox-Braves game [Red Sox Monster]

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must check out the enemy paper, head over to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website.