Morning Red Sox Delight – 9/5

Josh Beckett (L), Henderson Alvarez (R)

After losing 2-of-3 to the Texas Rangers, the Boston Red Sox hope to have better luck north of the border. They’ll try to do that as they kickoff a four-game set this afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Today’s first pitch is scheduled for 1:07 p.m. and will be broadcast on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Blue Jays television market, you can catch the game on Rogers SportsNet. And if you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2011 Red Sox Radio Network.

Josh Beckett looks to right the ship for the Red Sox in his 27th start of 2011. In his previous 26 starts, Beckett is 12-5 with a 2.54 ERA. He picked up the win in his only start of the season against the Blue Jays. In that start back on April 16th, he picked up the win after allowing one run in seven innings of work. He’s made 15 career starts against the Blue Jays and is 4-6 with a 6.57 ERA. He’s had a tough time at Rogers Centre where he is 1-2 with a 9.28 ERA in six starts.

Henderson Alvarez makes just his sixth MLB start since being called up on August 10th by the Blue Jays. In his first five starts, he is 1-2 with a 3.52 ERA. Today’s outing will mark his first career start against the visiting nine from Boston.

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.

Here are this afternoon’s lineups:

84-55		69-71
1. Jacoby Ellsbury	CF	1. Mike McCoy	SS
2. Dustin Pedroia	2B	2. Eric Thames	LF
3. Adrian Gonzalez	1B	3. Jose Bautista	RF
4. David Ortiz	DH	4. Adam Lind	1B
5. Kevin Youkilis	3B	5. Edwin Encarnacion	DH
6. Carl Crawford	LF	6. Kelly Johnson	2B
7. Josh Reddick	RF	7. Brett Lawrie	3B
8. Jason Varitek	C	8. Jose Molina	C
9. Marco Scutaro	SS	9. Dewayne Wise	CF
Josh Beckett	SP	Henderson Alvarez	SP

And here is how the hitters have fared against today’s starting pitchers:

Boston Red Sox @ Toronto Blue Jays batter/pitcher matchups

Ryan Lavarnway has been called back up from Triple-A Pawtucket. This was the first day he was eligible to be called up since he had to wait 10 days after being sent down. Nate Spears and Kyle Weiland have also been called up from the PawSox. Drew Sutton was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Spears.

Check back and/or refresh often as more links will be added if/when they become available before game time.

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Jenks done for season, Bedard (knee) to be skipped [Clubhouse Insider]

Francona: Jenks out for season [CSN New England]

Ailing knee forces Bedard to skip next start [CSN New England]

Video: State of the Nation with Gordon Edes [ESPN Boston]

Video: Recapping the Sox-Rangers season series [ESPN Boston]

Video: AL East race: Red Sox or Yankees? [ESPN Boston]

Jenks likely done for ’11; Bedard to skip start [ESPN Boston]

Red Sox pregame notes: Bedard to skip next start [Extra Bases]

Erik Bedard says plan to skip start is precautionary and resembles ’05 ailment [Full Count]

Waking up was hard to do for Conor Jackson Monday morning [Full Count]