Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 6/6

After beating the Texas Rangers eight consecutive times at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox fell to them last night 5-1. The Red Sox will look to rebound on what should be a beautiful night for baseball in Boston and move into first place by themselves as the New York Yankees lost this afternoon.

The game tonight will start at 7:10 PM EDT and will be televised in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Rangers television market, you can catch the game on FOX Sports Southwest. 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.

Jon Lester is still having somewhat of an up-and-down season but was outstanding in his last start against the Blue Jays where he struck out 12 in 6 innings of work to pick up the win. He’s made 11 starts on the season and is 4-5 with a 5.65 ERA. He’s faced the Rangers three times in his career, all of them at Fenway, and is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

Rookie Derek Holland starts for the Rangers tonight. He’s made 11 appearances (2 starts) and is 1-2 with a 6.33 ERA.

I had to pass this along. There’s a rumor that Sean McAdam said on the Baseball Show this morning on WEEI that Julio Lugo will be released when Jed Lowrie returns. Take it for what you want.

Lugo: I can take it [Full Count]

Drew out with sore shoulder [Projo Sox Blog]

Daniels changing the landscape in Texas [NESN.com]

Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game.

And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers. No one on the Red Sox has faced Holland.