Winners of five straight games, the Boston Red Sox return home after sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays to the friendly confines of Fenway Park to close out the month of May with a four-game set against the Kansas City Royals.
Tonight’s game will start at 7:10 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Royals television market, you can catch the game on FOX Sports Kansas City. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.
Coming off his best outing in a Red Sox uniform, Daisuke Matsuzaka looks to keep the momentum going. In his five starts this season, Dice-K is 3-1 with a 5.76 ERA. He hasn’t faced the Royals since the 2008 season. He’s made two careers starts against the Royals and is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA.
Brian Bannister makes his 10th start of 2010 for new skipper Ned Yost and the Royals tonight. In his previous nine starts, he is 3-3 with a 4.72 ERA. He hasn’t faced the Red Sox in 2010 and is was 0-1 in 2009 after allowing just one run. Overall in his career, Bannister is 0-4 with a 5.87 ERA in four starts. Three of those starts and losses have come at Fenway Park where he has a 5.68 ERA (19 IP/12 ER)
Keep reading for lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and pregame links.
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| 1. Scott Podsednik | LF | 1. Marco Scutaro | SS |
| 2. Mike Aviles | SS | 2. Dustin Pedroia | 2B |
| 3. David DeJesus | RF | 3. David Ortiz | DH |
| 4. Billy Butler | 1B | 4. Kevin Youkilis | 1B |
| 5. Jose Guillen | DH | 5. J.D. Drew | RF |
| 6. Alberto Callapso | 3B | 6. Adrian Beltre | 3B |
| 7. Mitch Maier | CF | 7. Jeremy Hermida | LF |
| 8. Jason Kendall | C | 8. Jason Varitek | C |
| 9. Chris Getz | 2B | 9. Bill Hall | CF |
| Brian Bannister | SP | Daisuke Matsuzaka | SP |
19-28
27-21Here’s the hitters have fared against tonight’s starting pitchers in their careers:
In some quick news, Scott Atchison has cleared waivers and has been optioned to Pawtucket. And if you have NESN, be sure to catch the pregame show at 6 p.m. Kevin Millar will be making his NESN debut.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Francona on Ellsbury: ‘We’ve got to get to the bottom of this’ [Clubhouse Insider]
One-on-one: David Ortiz with Jackie Pepper [CSN New England]
Manager Francona, meet reporter Millar [CSN New England]
Pedroia: ‘It’s not the Red Sox playing Joe West’ [CSN New England]
Ellsbury still tender [ESPN Boston]
Martinez could return on Friday [ESPN Boston]
News and notes from Fenway: Ellsbury’s ribs OK but sore [Extra Bases]
Francona: Ellsbury ‘really tender’ [Extra Bases]
Day later, West not saying much [Extra Bases]
Red Sox notes: ‘Getting to bottom’ of Ellsbury injury [Full Count]
Road trip by the numbers [Projo Sox Blog]
Red Sox making their move [Projo Sox Blog]
Jacoby Ellsbury still hurting, and team doesn’t know what’s wrong [Projo Sox Blog]
Kevin Millar joins the broadcast team, and ends up in Francona’s crosshairs [Projo Sox Blog]
