After a record-breaking and record-setting 6th inning last night that saw them put up a 12 spot before making an out against the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox will now have to deal with the thorn in their side that is the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays have taken 5-of-7 games from the Red Sox this season, including 2-of-3 at Fenway Park.
Tonight’s game will start at 7:10 PM and with the Boston Bruins playing tonight in Game 4 of their NHL Playoffs matchup, the Red Sox game has been relegated to the NESN Plus channel in the Red Sox television market. The Red Sox pregame show will start at 5:30 PM and run until 7 on NESN. The game will be shown on FOX Sports Florida in the Rays television market. 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.
Brad Penny will make the his second consecutive start against the Rays and looked pretty strong the last time out despite taking the loss. In that outing, he struck out 8 in six innings of work. On the season, Penny is 2-1 with a 7.61 ERA. In his 5 games (4 starts) against the Rays in his career, Penny is 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA.
Joe Maddon will call upon “Big Game” James Shields,who is making his 3rd start against the Red Sox and second consecutive start, tonight and he’ll look to exercise his demons at Fenway Park. In 4 starts at the Fens, Shields is 0-4 with a 9.56 ERA. Overall in his career, Shields is 3-5 with a 5.17 ERA against the Red Sox. He is 1-1 this year against the Red Sox and his overall record this season is 3-2 with a 3.51 ERA.
Ask Amalie 5.8.09 [Boston Globe]
Red Sox honor Dom DiMaggio [Extra Bases]
Family: DiMaggio was watching his beloved Sox when he died [Extra Bases]
About that current leftfielder … [Extra Bases]
Honoring No. 7 [Projo Sox Blog]
Pesky remembers his pal ‘Dommie’ [Boston Herald]
Curt Schilling talks about Mannywood With Dennis & Callahan (link is to audio clip) [WEEI.com]
Who should man the booth till Rem Dawg returns? [NESN.com]
Opposing Thoughts: Sox are no puzzle for Rays [NESN.com]
That One Inning [Center Field]
If you missed the chat with Jed Hoyer over at Sawxheads, be sure to check it out.
Here are tonight’s starting lineups:
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| 1. B.J. Upton | CF | 1. Jacoby Ellsbury | CF |
| 2. Carl Crawford | LF | 2. Dustin Pedroia | 2B |
| 3. Evan Longoria | 3B | 3. David Ortiz | DH |
| 4. Carlos Peña | 1B | 4. Jason Bay | LF |
| 5. Pat Burrell | DH | 5. Mike Lowell | 3B |
| 6. Gabe Gross | RF | 6. J.D. Drew | RF |
| 7. Akinori Iwamura | 2B | 7. Jeff Bailey | 1B |
| 8. Jason Bartlett | SS | 8. Jason Varitek | C |
| 9. Michel Hernandez | C | 9. Julio Lugo | SS |
| James Shields | SP | Brad Penny | SP |
14-16
18-11And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers:
