Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 7/6

Hiroki Kuroda (L), Josh Beckett (R)

After going on 2-5 on their road trip to the left coast, the Boston Red Sox return home for four games in three days against their AL East rivals the New York Yankees at historic Fenway Park.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and will be broadcast 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 don’t live in either market you’re in luck as well as the MLB Network will be broadcasting the game as well (not in Red Sox or Yankees television markets). If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to it on the Red Sox radio network.

Josh Beckett looks to help the Red Sox narrow the gap in the standings in his 14th start of 2012. In his previous 13 starts, Beckett is 4-7 with a 4.06 ERA. He has not faced the Yankees in 2012 and was 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA (7 ER/34 IP) in five starts in 2011. He’s made 27 career starts against the Bronx Bombers and is 14-7 with a 5.36 ERA. 14 of those starts have come at the Fens where he is 6-4 with a 5.74 ERA.

Hiroki Kuroda makes his 17th start of 2012 for the leaders of the AL East. In his previous 16 games, Kuroda is 8-7 with a 3.17 ERA. His lone career start against the Red Sox came into 2010 at the Fens as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that start, he took the loss after allowing two runs in seven innings of work.

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 today’s lineups:

49-32		42-40
1. Derek Jeter	SS	1. Daniel Nava	LF
2. Curtis Granderson	CF	2. Ryan Kalish	CF
3. Alex Rodriguez	DH	3. David Ortiz	DH
4. Robinson Cano	2B	4. Cody Ross	RF
5. Mark Teixeira	1B	5. Adrian Gonzalez	1B
6. Nick Swisher	RF	6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia	C
7. Raul Ibanez	LF	7. Mauro Gomez	3B
8. Eric Chavez	3B	8. Mike Aviles	SS
9. Russell Martin	C	9. Nick Punto	2B
Hiroki Kuroda	SP	Josh Beckett	SP

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

New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox batter/pitcher matchups

NOTES: Dustin Pedroia has been placed on the 15-day disabled list. He’s been replaced on the 25-man roster by Pedro Ciriaco. Scott Podsednik was activated from the 15-day DL and was optioned to Pawtucket.

REFRESH OR CHECK BACK OFTEN AS MORE LINKS WILL BE ADDED BEFORE GAMETIME IF/WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AND WILL BE BOLDED

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Frustrated Pedroia deals with DL, Crawford inches closer [clubhouse insider]

Red Sox- Yankees: A rivalry in rehab [csn new england]

Pedroia hits DL; Ciriaco called up [csn new england]

W2W4: Red Sox-Yankees, 7 ET [espn boston]

Francona’s take on Red Sox-Yankees [espn boston]

Crawford’s thoughts on race and baseball [espn boston]

Bobby Valentine says Boston Red Sox’ Dustin Pedroia on DL with new thumb injury [espn boston]

Frustrated Pedroia has cast on his hand [espn boston]

Buchholz on track for post-break return [espn boston]

Papi: ‘My bats will do the talking’ [espn boston]