Well this could explain why Boston Red Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen has been sucktastic in his past few outings.

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe and John Tomase of the Boston Herald, MDC will be heading to the disabled list with a forearm strain in his pitching arm. There’s no word who will be called up to replace MDC on the 25-man roster.

After Wednesday’s game, Delcarmen had told reporters that he was feeling soreness in the arm and that he would be evaluated by doctors on Friday. Obviously with this development, the Red Sox feel that a stint on the disabled list is what MDC needs to get back to form.

In his last three appearances which total just an inning, he’s allowed nine runs on nine hits. In two of those outings, he didn’t retire a single batter. In 15 previous outings before that stretch, he had allowed just three runs in 13 2/3 innings.

Overall on the season in 33 games, Delcarmen is 2-2 with a 4.59 ERA.

Photo credit: AP Photos

Here’s the press release from the Boston Red Sox about the return of Kevin Cash to the team:

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox today acquired catcher Kevin Cash from the Houston Astros in exchange for infielder Angel Sanchez.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Theo Epstein.

Cash, 32, appeared in 19 games behind the plate (18 starts) and also pitched one inning for Houston this season. He hit .204 (11-for-54) with two home runs and four RBIs before being designated for assignment on June 22 and outrighted to Triple-A Round Rock on June 23. The right-handed hitter returns for his second stint with Boston after going 35-for-169 (.207) over 73 games with the club in 2007-08. Cash owns a career .993 fielding percentage (nine errors/1,226 total chances) and has thrown out 44 of 154 attempted basestealers (28.6%) over parts of eight Major League seasons with the Blue Jays (2002-04), Rays (2005), Red Sox (2007-08), Yankees (2009) and Astros (2010).

Sanchez, 26, was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket on June 26 but has not appeared in a game since his return. He was selected to Boston’s active Major League roster on May 20 and played one game for the club, going 0-for-3 in a start at shortstop that night against Minnesota before he was optioned back to Pawtucket on May 24. Sanchez hit .274 (61-for-223) with 17 RBIs and 26 runs scored in 62 games for the PawSox this season, appearing in 47 games at shortstop, five at second base and one at third base.

Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox 7:10 p.m. Fenway Park – Boston, MA SP: Matt Garza vs Daisuke Matsuzaka TV: NESN, MLB.tv Radio: Red Sox Radio Network

Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 6/30 [SOX & Dawgs]

After holding on for an 8-5 win last night, the Boston Red Sox will look to win the final game of a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park before their off day on Thursday.

Tonight’s game will start at 7:10 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game will be broadcast on Sun Sports in the Rays television market. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his 10th start this season and first appearance against the Rays for skipper Terry Francona. In his previous nine starts, he is 5-2 with a 4.50 ERA. Dice-K has made nine career starts against the Rays and has a record of 2-4 with a 4.05 ERA.

Matt Garza has had relatively good success against the Red Sox in his career. He’s made two starts against them this season and is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA. He’s made 14 career starts against the Red Sox and is 6-3 with a 3.36 ERA. In seven career starts at Fenway Park, Garza is 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA. Garza has made 15 starts this season for Joe Maddon and is 8-5 with a 4.10 ERA.

Keep reading for lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and pregame links.

Here’s the hitters have fared against this evening’s starting pitchers in their careers:

Voting for the 2010 MLB All-Star game ends tomorrow at midnight EDT so let’s show the Red Sox players some love by voting.

Also Fabio Castro cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Monday. He’s expected to report to Triple-A Pawtucket.

J.D. Drew was in the orginial starting lineup tonight but was scratched with a stiff neck.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

Theo staying the course, for now [Clubhouse Insider]

Anatomy of an at-bat [Clubhouse Insider]

Ask Amalie: Who is the Red Sox’ MVP so far? [Extra Bases]

The strange case of Jacoby Ellsbury [Extra Bases]

Papi moving on up the home run list [Extra Bases]

Pedroia – yes, Pedroia – is taking grounders [Extra Bases]

Maddon on Beltre: ‘I’ve seen it before’ [Full Count]

Adrian Beltre’s Offensive Explosion Merits All-Star Bid, Says Jerry Remy [NESN.com]

Lackey’s Night – Pitch By Pitch [Nuggetpalooza]

Red Sox bullpen still looking shaky [Projo Sox Blog]

Bell, Manuel named to Triple-A All-Star Game [Projo Sox Blog]

Photo credits: Getty Images, Reuters Pictures

STORRS, Conn. – Geno Auriemma, Maya Moore, Tina Charles and the 2010 NCAA National Champion UConn women’s basketball team are among the nominees announced for The 2010 ESPYs, co-presented by Capital One and Castrol EDGE. The ESPYs will be televised LIVE on ESPN/ESPN HD at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on July 14 from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, Calif.

Auriemma is nominated for Best Coach, while Moore is nominated for Best Female for the second consecutive year. Charles and Moore are among the candidates for Best Female College Athlete as well.

The UConn women’s basketball team is nominated for Best Team following its second straight perfect season and National Championship title. The Huskies are also up for Best Record Breaking Performance for their current win streak of 78 games, which is the longest winning streak in women’s NCAA Basketball history.

Former UConn women’s basketball standout Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury has been nominated for Best Female Athlete as well as Best WNBA Player, joining Tamika Catchings, Becky Hammon, Lauren Jackson and Candace Parker on the list of nominees for that category.

Voting has begun and will run through July 10 as fans will be able to vote online at www.espys.tv or via mobile phone at www.espn.com/espys. Fans can also access voting on Facebook at www.facebook.com/espn.

The ESPYs gather top celebrities from sports and entertainment to commemorate the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances.

The ESPYs honor ESPN’s commitment to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, a partnership launched with the late Jim Valvano at the inaugural ESPYs in 1993.

BEST TEAM NOMINEES
Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Alabama Football
Chicago Blackhawks
Los Angeles Lakers
New Orleans Saints
New York Yankees

BEST COACH/MANAGER NOMINEES
Geno Auriemma, Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Joe Girardi, New York Yankees
Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke Men’s Basketball
Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints
Nick Saban, Alabama Football

BEST FEMALE COLLEGE ATHLETE
Maya Moore, Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Tina Charles, Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Megan Hodge, Penn State Women’s Volleyball
Megan Lagenfield, UCLA Softball

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE
Maya Moore, NCAA Basketball
Diana Taurasi, WNBA
Lindsey Vonn, Skiing
Serena Williams, Tennis

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE
Connecticut Women’s Basketball, Longest winning streak in Women’s NCAA Basketball History
Usain Bolt, 100 and 200-meter World Records
Brett Favre, NFL record for consecutive starts
Roger Federer, Most Grand Slam singles titles
Isner vs. Mahut at Wimbledon, Longest Match in Professional Tennis History

BEST WNBA PLAYER
Diana Taurasi, Phoenix
Tamika Catchings, Indiana
Becky Hammon, San Antonio
Lauren Jackson, Seattle
Candace Parker, Los Angeles

Oh my, how times have changed for the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

Back on June 1st, the Red Sox found themselves in fourth place in the AL East, trailing the first place Rays by five games, the second place New York Yankees by 2½ games and the third place Toronto Blue Jays by a ½ game.The Red Sox came into last night’s game in second place trailing the Yankees by two games and one game ahead of the Rays.

And with the Rays in town for a two-game set, the Red Sox could pick up two more games on the Rays and hope the Yankees lose.

Well that perfect scenario happened last night when Cliff Lee’s complete game beat the Yankees and the Red Sox held on for an 8-5 win over the Rays.

With James Shields and John Lackey trading zeroes over the first four innings, the game took a dramatic turn in the bottom of the 5th inning for the Red Sox.

David Ortiz came to the plate in the fifth inning with runners on second and third and two outs. With first base open, Shields and skipper Joe Maddon had the option to walk the hot hitting Ortiz. Instead they decided to pitch to him, essentially trying to unintentionally walk him with the hopes Big Papi might chase something.

But this isn’t the same Ortiz they saw in April, this was Ortiz who was player of the month in May and the one who’s had a good month of June. So when Shields left his first pitch fastball out over the plate, Big Papi planted it in the bleacher seats over the Rays bullpen to put the Red Sox out front 3-0.

And just like that, the Red Sox were out front. That’s all John Lackey would need as he scattered eight hits and two walks over seven innings while allowing one run in the 7th on an Evan Longoria single. Lackey did get insurance runs off the bats of Daniel Nava and Jason Varitek and Bill Hall made it 8-1 with a two-run homer in the 7th to put the game out of reach or so we thought.

Hideki Okajima allowed a pinch-hit two-run homer by Willy Aybar in the 8th and left the game with B.J. Upton on third after a pinch-hit triple. But Daniel Bard came in and bailed him out in his league leading 39th appearance of the season.

The bullpen duo of Scott Atchison and Dustin Richardson weren’t better as Atchison was charged with the two runs Richardson allowed on the inherited runners. But fortunately for them Jonathan Papelbon was on top of his game as he struck out Aybar to give the Red Sox a win.

The bad news yesterday for the Red Sox came when it was announced that Victor Martinez had to go on the disabled list with a broken thumb suffered in Sunday’s game. He was replaced on the 25-man roster by Gustavo Molina (no relation to the famous catching trio of Molina’s), who will most likely be Tim Wakefield’s personal catcher until VMart returns.

So now as we close out the month of June tonight, the Red Sox find themselves sitting in second place behind the Yankees by just one game, leading the Rays by two games and the Blue Jays by seven games.

We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, news and links from the day.

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying, head over to the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.

Photo credit: Reuters Pictures

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

Video: Marcus Easley Speaks From NFL Rookie Symposium [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Early Week 1 preview: Connecticut [ESPN.com – Big East Blog]

Your Hate Makes You Strong: Players Michigan Football Fans Will Learn to Hate in 2010 – UConn’s Zach Frazer [Maize n Brew]

Looking ahead: UConn [Scout.com]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Three ex-Huskies are fan favorites [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Jerome Dyson To Play For Cavs In NBA Summer League [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Donnell Beverly Recovering From Second Hip Surgery [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Shabazz Napier’s Road To UConn [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Alex Oriakhi Looking To Improve In 2010-11 [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball: Nemeth Named to ABCA/RAWLINGS NCAA DI All-American Third Team [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: Penders Named 2010 ECAC Coach of the Year [UConnHuskies.com]