Early Evening Red Sox Delight – 5/26

After banging out 16 hits for the second consecutive game, the Boston Red Sox held on late to beat the Minnesota Twins yesterday afternoon in Game 1 of a 4-game set.

The game tonight will start at 8:10 PM EDT and will be televised in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Twins television market, you can catch the game on FOX Sports North. And if the television isn’t your cup of tea, you can catch the game on one of the many affiliates of the Red Sox Radio Network.

Red Sox skipper Terry Francona hands the ball to Jon Lester who has had an up and down 2009 season so far. He is coming off a great start against the Toronto Blue Jays that saw him give up 1 run in 6 1/3 innings to get the win. On the season, Lester is 3-4 with a 5.91 ERA in 9 starts. He faced the Twins three times (2 starts) in his career and has no record with a 4.91 ERA. He’s made only start in the Metrodome in his career where he gave up 3 runs in 5 1/3 innings last year on May 9th.

Nick Blackburn starts for manager Ron Gardenhire tonight. Blackburn is 3-2 with a 3.83 in 9 starts this season. He has faced the Red Sox three times in his career (2 starts) and is 1-1 with a 6.59 ERA. He has faced the Red Sox once at the Metrodome, picking up the win despite allowing 4 runs in 6 innings back on May 11, 2008.

Obviously the big question of the day is where was David Ortiz in the Red Sox lineup. As you’ll see below, he’s batting 6th tonight.

When asked by my Globe colleague Amalie Benjamin if he was going to talk to the media before the game, Ortiz replied, “After I go deep tonight.”

Here’s everybody’s favorite AL MVP and Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedoira mic’d up before a game last week against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Francona explains dropping Ortiz in order [Extra Bases]

Francona thrilled with Buchholz [Extra Bases]

Papi in an alternate universe [Full Count]

In Boston, Bay stars [Tony Massarotti Blog]

Speedster Harper to rep Sox at Draft [RedSox.com]

Time to trade Buchholz for Big Papi’s successor? [Wicked Good Sports]

Bringing Back The Ghosts of Red Sox Past [Wicked Good Sports]

Good times with Dewey [Don Orsillo – NESN.com]

Smoltz forces Red Sox to make tough decision [NESN.com]

Here are the lineups for this tonight’s game:

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers.