Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 6/5

After spending the past 11 days on the road, the Boston Red Sox return home to the friendly confines of Fenway Park for a 6-game homestand that begins tonight with the Texas Rangers, weather permitting of course. The Red Sox have won their last 8 games at Fenway over the Rangers.

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.

Brad Penny gets the ball from Terry Francona tonight and looks to keep up his run of quality starts for the Red Sox. In 10 starts this season, he is 5-1 with a 5.63 ERA. He has faced the Rangers just twice in his career and is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA. A win tonight for Penny would be the 100th in his career as he is 99-76 in 259 games (255 starts).

Kevin Millwood starts for the surprising Rangers who sit atop the AL West right now. In 11 starts this season, he is 4-4 with a 3.23 ERA. Millwood has faced the Red Sox 12 times in his career and is 4-4 with a 4.46 ERA. In 7 starts at Fenway Park, Millwood is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA.

Here’s the afternoon weather update from the Red Sox about tonight’s game:

The current weather forecast, provided by the Red Sox’ private weather service Meteorlogix, calls for rain showers to move through the Fenway area during the late afternoon and evening hours. At this point in time, the specific timing and duration of these showers are uncertain.

The Fenway Park gates will open at the regularly scheduled time of 5:10 p.m., and the Red Sox are hopeful that tonight’s game will be played.

Eckersley on Dale & Holley: ‘I didn’t realize you can’t talk no-no’ [WEEI.com]

Bay won’t get worked up, he’ll just keep working [FOXSports.com]

Sources: Braves eyeing Penny [Buster Olney – ESPN The Mag]

Opposing Thoughts: Rangers taking new approach with pitching [NESN.com]

Red Sox accustomed to finding diamonds in the draft [NESN.com]

Transcript of World Record live chat [38 Pitches]

Some quick hits … [Extra Bases]

Francona: Eye check no big deal [Extra Bases]

Epstein: Ortiz’ vision tested well this spring [WEEI.com]

Red Sox embrace picking late in Draft[RedSox.com]

Hangin’ With Torii and Big Papi [Center Field]

Here are the starting lineups for tonight’s game.

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