Afternoon Red Sox Misery – 9/25

John Lackey (L), Ivan Nova (R)

After falling in game one this afternoon, the Boston Red Sox look to avoid falling into a tie for the AL Wild Card in a must win game in the finale of a three-game set with the New York Yankees tonight at Yankee Stadium.

Today’s first pitch for game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Yankees television market, you can catch the game on YES. And if you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2011 Red Sox Radio Network.

If John Lackey wants to earn his paycheck for the month, he can do it by getting a win in his 28th start of the season. In his previous 27 starts, Lackey is 12-12 with a 6.49 ERA. He’s made three starts against the Yanks this season and is 2-1 with a 6.50 ERA. He’s made 22 career starts against the Yankees and is 8-9 with a 4.69 ERA. Nine of those starts have come in the Bronx where he is 3-4 with a 4.13 ERA.

Ivan Nova looks to help bury the Red Sox in his 28th appearance (27th start) of 2011. In his previous 27 appearances (26 starts), Nova is 16-4 with a 3.62 ERA. He picked up a no decision in his only start of the seaason against the Red Sox on April 9th. In that start, he allowed four runs in 4.1 innings of work. He’s made three career appearances (two starts) against the Red Sox and is 0-2 with a 7.15 ERA (9 ER/11.1 IP).

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

Here are this evening’s lineups:

88-69		96-61
1. Jacoby Ellsbury	CF	1. Eduardo Nunez	SS
2. Carl Crawford	LF	2. Curtis Granderson	CF
3. Dustin Pedroia	2B	3. Robinson Cano	2B
4. David Ortiz	DH	4. Mark Teixeira	1B
5. Adrian Gonzalez	1B	5. Nick Swisher	RF
6. Jed Lowrie	3B	6. Eric Chavez	3B
7. J.D. Drew	RF	7. Jesus Montero	RF
8. Marco Scutaro	SS	8. Chris Dickerson	LF
9. Jason Varitek	C	9. Austin Romine	C
John Lackey	SP	Ivan Nova	SP