To sum up the title of this post, it’s easy. If you a Boston Red Sox fan and want to watch tonight’s interleague game against the Philadelphia Phillies and live in Connecticut, you can’t watch it on FOX.

Get the lube out because they are basically bending you over and giving it to you where the sun doesn’t shine as MLB on FOX has assigned the New York Yankees @ New York Mets game tonight at 7:10 p.m to the Connecticut market. FOX has three other games including the Red Sox/Phillies as well as the Detroit Tigers @ Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs @ Texas Rangers.

Map courtesy of The506.com

In case you wondering here’s how the map breaks down by market:

• Yankees/Mets (49%) – Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Orlando, Portland, Raleigh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Washington, West Palm Beach
• Cubs/Rangers (23%) – Austin, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Louisville, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tulsa
• Tigers/Dodgers (17%) – Detroit, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego
• Red Sox/Phillies (10%) – Boston, Dayton, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

Over the past two years, when The Quinnipiac Poll has done it’s annual favorite MLB team, both the Red Sox and Yankees have been the favorite team of Connecticut. It usually breaks down that western CT is for the Yankees while eastern CT is for the Red Sox. I’m guessing that when they do it this year, it will favor the Yankees since they won the World Series in 2009.

We are such a small state that we only have one FOX affiliate, FOX 61. But if you live in New Haven county or Fairfield county, the cable providers there also give you FOX 5 from NY so you would have a choice of games if FOX 61 was assigned the Red Sox/Phillies game.

But since they have the Yankees/Mets game, Red Sox fans are left out in the cold. The bars likely won’t have it unless they can pick up a FOX feed from one of the markets assigned to the Red Sox game. MLB Extra Innings package isn’t showing the game and MLB.tv probably won’t have it either since they never show FOX games. And even if they did have it, we’d be blacked out from it since we are in the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets television markets.

The only thing we can do is complain to FOX 61 by lighting up their phone lines at 860-727-0082, fill up their fax machine at 860-293-0178 or send them an email complaining.

The logical thing they could do is put the Red Sox/Phillies on the standard definition channel and put the Yankees/Mets on the HD channel. Or better yet, offer the game on F/X or their sister station in CT which is WTXX.

So unless something changes, I’ll be listening to the game with Joe Castiglione and Dave O’Brien on the Red Sox radio network.

John Lackey has shown at times this season why the Boston Red Sox signed him to a 5-year, $82.5 million contract. Unfortunately, last night wasn’t one of those times in the 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of interleague play in 2010.

Coming off of masterful performances by Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, the Red Sox and Lackey were hoping he could put the woes from his last two starts behind him. He didn’t though as he lost command of his fastball and ended up with five walks. We all know this isn’t normal for Lackey as he usually has pinpoint control.

In his last three seasons in Anaheim, he walked 52 batters in 33 starts in 2007, 40 batters in in 24 starts in 2008 and 47 batters in 27 starts in 2009. With his 26 walks in nine starts this season, he’s on pace to beat his career-high in walks allowed of 72 back in back in 2006. You would have to think that is purely a mechanical thing as he really didn’t get squeezed by the home plate umpire like he did his last time out.

And last night when he was able to get his fastball out over the plate, two of them were crushed by Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth. The worst part though was the fact that both home runs came after he had issued a free pass to first base.

Lackey’s a bulldog and hates to lose so you know he’ll work out any kinks with pitching guru John Farrell and be back to normal sooner rather than later. With Josh Beckett out and not knowing what you’re going to get from Daisuke Matsuzaka each time out, the Red Sox could really use some more quality starts from Lackey.

Tonight in Philadelphia we’ll see the return of Jacoby Ellsbury to the Red Sox lineup. Where he’ll hit is anyone’s guess. To make room for him on the 25-man roster, the Red Sox designated Jonathan Van Every for assignment. It’s likely that Van Every will clear waivers and my guess if he does that he’ll accept an assignment to Triple-A Pawtucket if that’s in the Red Sox’s plans.

Tonight’s 7:10 p.m. game is a FOX game and if you live in the following markets you’ll get to the see game, Boston, Dayton, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Click here for the distribution map.

We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day but for now enjoy the over night links after the jump.

Walk on the wild side for Lackey [Boston Globe]

As a hitter, Martinez flipped the switch [Boston Globe]

Ortiz meets with Francona [Boston Globe]

In Boston, would it be Hanley being Manny? [Boston Globe]

Red Sox Lack right stuff [Boston Herald]

Mike Lowell had a chance to be a Phillie [Boston Herald]

Lack of K’s for John Lackey [Boston Herald]

David Ortiz first, foremost tonight [Boston Herald]

Lackey lacks ‘it’ again, Sox fall 5-1 [CSN New England]

Ellsbury on roster; Van Every designated [Extra Bases]

Phillies may be without Rollins [Extra Bases]

Gammons on The Big Show: ‘I can’t figure out Daisuke’ [Full Count]

Closing Time: Phillies 5, Red Sox 1 [Full Count]

Terry Francona Handling David Ortiz, Mike Lowell Drama With Care [NESN.com]

Should Major League Baseball Change its Interleague Schedule? [NESN.com]

Jonathan Van Every Designated For Assignment, Clearing Way for Jacoby Ellsbury’s Return [NESN.com]

Befuddled John Lackey Can’t Find Consistency Against Phillies [NESN.com]

Poor pitching by Lackey dooms Boston [Providence Journal]

Ellsbury says he’s ‘ready to go’ against Phillies [Providence Journal]

Red Sox Journal: Youkilis to stay at first in Philly [Providence Journal]

Papi, Francona privately discuss comments [RedSox.com]

Ellsbury ready to dive back in Saturday [RedSox.com]

Youkilis won’t play third this weekend [RedSox.com]

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

And if you must check out the enemy papers, head over to the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer websites.

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

UConn Football links

Dan Ryan On Colonials Tryouts Today: Can’t Hurt, Only Help [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Kirk Ferentz says he’s ‘pulling’ for UConn, his alma mater, to join the Big Ten [Des Moines Register]

Other UConn related links

A day at the ballpark [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]

Baseball: LePage, Nemeth Homer Twice to Lift Huskies [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: State of the Huskies continues to improve [The Day]

Boston Red Sox @ Philadelphia Phillies 7:05 p.m Citizens Bank Park SP: John Lackey vs Cole Hamels TV: NESN, MLB Network,  MLB.tv Radio: Red Sox Radio Network

Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 5/21 [SOX & Dawgs]

Note: There is an issue with the commenting system right now. For whatever reason, certain users can’t leave comments while some can. Bloguin is aware of the problem and is working on the solution. I apologize for the inconvenience.

After a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins, the Boston Red Sox head to the mid-Atlantic to kickoff interleague play with the Philadelphia Phillies in a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.

Tonight’s game will start at 7:05 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game can be seen in the Phillies television market on CSN Philly. For those who don’t live in either market, the game will also be broadcast on the MLB Network.To find out if you get the MLB Network, click here (enter zip code at bottom). If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

John Lackey makes his ninth start of 2010 for Terry Francona and the Red Sox. In his eight starts, he is 4-2 with a 4.86 ERA. He’s only faced the Phillies once and that came back in 2003 as a member of the Angels at home. In that start, he picked up the win after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings.

Like Lackey, Cole Hamels will be making his ninth start of the season. In his eight starts, he is also 4-2 and has an ERA of 4.29. His one career start against the Red Sox came at home in June of 2008 and he picked up the win after allowing two runs over seven innings.

Lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, and links after the jump.

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

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

Scutaro, Ellsbury and previewing Red Sox-Phillies [Clubhouse Insider]

Ortiz will play tomorrow [Clubhouse Insider]

Ortiz’ aim: Break slump, resume playing regularly [CSN New England]

Does Iannetta make sense for the Red Sox? [Extra Bases]

Pregame news and notes from Philly [Extra Bases]

Francona: Relationship with Ortiz is good [Extra Bases]

Lucchino on D&C: Ortiz has right to question media [Full Count]

Ortiz told Hanley ‘do the right thing’ [Full Count]

David Ortiz Moving Forward After Getting Frustrations With Media Off His Chest [NESN.com]

Jacoby Ellsbury to Join Red Sox in Philadelphia on Saturday [NESN.com]

Ways Kevin Millar Can Provide a Boost to Red Sox As NESN Analyst [NESN.com]

Jon Lester Continues Dominance to Earn Amica Pitcher of the Week Honors [NESN.com]

Red Sox Bats Providing More Than Expected [NESN.com]

Jacoby Ellsbury Ready to be Activated on Saturday [NESN.com]

St. Ray’s Iannetta on Red Sox’ radar? [Projo Sox Blog]

Wild-card push starts right now [Projo Sox Blog]

Francona not worried about relationship with Ortiz [Projo Sox Blog]

Scutaro feeling better, hoping issue is resolved [Projo Sox Blog]

Gems by Buchholz, Lester give Red Sox flexibility [Projo Sox Blog]

Youkilis won’t play third base in Philadelphia [Projo Sox Blog]

Beckett plays catch, making progress [Projo Sox Blog]

Red Sox start Interleague fun in Philly [RedSox.com]

Lowell’s quick recovery not surprising [RedSox.com]

With the 2010 Major League Baseball season having passed the quarter pole (40 games) for teams this week, I figured it was time to look at the Red Sox season thus far. Over the off season we were told time and time again that the team was going to be built on pitching and defense and General Manager Theo Epstein and his baseball operations people set out to embrace this philosophy.

They did so by signing pitcher John Lackey away from the Los Angeles Angels, three-time Gold Glove winning outfielder Mike Cameron away from Milwaukee, two-time Gold Glove winning third baseman Adrian Beltre from Seattle and shortstop Marco Scuturo away from the Toronto Blue Jays. They also moved Jacoby Ellsbury to left field and made Victor Martinez the everyday catcher. On paper it all looks good but in reality it’s the pitching and the defense that has let this team down while the supposed questionable offense has kept this teams head above water for much of the season.

Offensively, in the American League, the team is tied for 5th in batting average at .270 with Minnesota; 4th in OBP; 2nd in slugging pct and 2nd in OPS. They are second in home runs to Toronto; 4th in RBI; 2nd in hits and 3rd in runs scored. Where they’re lacking is in stolen bases. Generally we don’t associate the Red Sox with swiped bags but since the arrival of Ellsbury in late 2007 it has become a weapon in manager Terry Francona’s arsenal. With Ellsbury on the DL since early April, the Sox as a team have only 12 steals in 18 chances. If Ellsbury and Cameron, who has also been on the DL since early April, were both in the lineup that number would be significantly higher thus making the Sox offense even more potent.

The pitching though is another story, at times it shines like last night with Jon Lester throwing the teams first complete game of 2010 or the night before with Clay Buchholz earning glowing praise from Twins broadcaster and should be Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven. Then it’s been shaky like Monday night’s start from Daisuke Matsuzaka in the Bronx; or Josh Beckett’s season or the up and down performances of Lackey.

They are 13 out of 14 teams in the AL in ERA with a 4.78, only Kansas City is worse. They’ve allowed the most earned runs (204) and runs (222); they’re 5th in walks (308), the staff WHIP is a whopping 1.40 good for 10th and they have the sixth highest batting average against in the league. In 19 save opportunities the bullpen has blown 7. The staff has given up the 5th most hits, the 4th most HRs and the 3rd most total bases. You want to talk stolen bases against? You might want to look at this with only one eye open it’s kinda scary. Opponents have stolen 48 bases and have only been thrown out or caught by pitchers 10 times for a caught stealing pct of 17%. Only New York’s pct is worse (15%)

In 42 games the defense has committed 27 errors (7th most in AL), 7 of them alone by Beltre. It’s not just the errors though that are killing them. I can’t recall in the last 7 or 8 years a Boston team who misplays and misreads and misjudges the ball so often. Granted part of the problem is you have pretty much an entire outfield with little or no Fenway Park experience but that only goes so far. And Beltre needs to start fielding his position better. The way he has played defensively needs to change.

This team is still searching for an identity. They’re like the family uncle with multiple personalities. For a few games they’re resilient, they’ll fall way behind only to comeback on you and win. There are days they’re lackadaisical, some days they will put in a good effort from beginning to end and other days they are just totally uninspired. I don’t know what needs to change to bring about a better effort as a team. Maybe there isn’t as good a chemistry amongst teammates as there was in the past. We’ve already seen what appears to be a breakdown in communication between Martinez and Matsuzaka. We’ve seen Mike Lowell, of all people; complain about his situation and how he doesn’t know what his role is.

As someone who has watched Francona manage sheltered, fragile egos at times over the last seven seasons, I find it hard to believe no one has told Lowell what to expect. We’ve seen David Ortiz flip out on the media, flip out when being pulled from a game for a pinch hitter only to rise from the junk pile to look like, well “Big Papi” again. We’ve seen Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek take more reserved roles, handle them professionally and excel in the them. We’ve seen J.D. Drew start to carry the team like he can when he gets hot. But something’s different, there’s a different vibe there and most of it appears to be negative.

I will say this, if the team doesn’t get righted and soon, it will be an ugly summer in the Hub. Sports radio phone lines will blister with activity, Bloggers will wear out keyboards, heads will be called for and change will be demanded. It’s been a long time since it’s been an ugly summer in Boston but this has the makings of one, especially with the two teams the Sox are chasing for the division and the wild card playing so well through the first quarter of the season. We know those teams won’t be able to keep that pace but it won’t do any good if when they start to fall off the Red Sox are doing the doggy paddle in the Charles River just trying to keep their heads above the water.

The Boston Red Sox will enter this weekend’s interleague series with a fresh bullpen thanks to Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. After Buchholz went 8+ innings on Wednesday night, Lester one upped him by throwing a complete game in the 6-2 win.

It really couldn’t have come at a better time for the Red Sox as the bullpen had been getting used a little more than Terry Francona would have liked. But when you get two quality starts like that, I’m sure the guys in the bullpen don’t mind at all.

Lester started out this season like he did last year, struggling early on only turn it on when the calendar changed over to May. Lester started a day early this year since his final April start came on the 28th.  In his last five starts since that date, he is 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 38 innings of work. He had given up 15 runs his first three starts and only eight in his last six. Overall on the season, Lester is 4-2 with a 3.47 ERA.

When Lester is on, he’s virtually untouchable, especially when he has command of his cut fastball. Last night, Lester had great velocity on his fastball and command of all of his pitches. And just like Buchholz on Wednesday night, Lester got most of his outs via the ground ball (13 in all).

The other thing that I noticed about Lester was pace. He didn’t dilly dally on the mound at all. He’d take the sign, throw the pitch, get the ball and throw the pitch (repeat, wash, rinse, repeat). When you’re playing behind him, you have to love that. Plus mentally when you’re in that rythmn, it keeps you focused on the task at hand.

When the season started, everyone was worried about where the runs would come from. The media and experts said the Red Sox had no power. Well folks, the Red Sox are currently second in the American League with 58 home runs behind the Toronto Blue Jays who have 66. They are third in the AL in runs scored with 219 (Yankees have 237, Rays have 225).

On the flip side though, they are 13th in pitching with a 4.78 ERA and have allowed an AL-high 222 runs. They are tied six overall defensively in the AL with 27 errors committed. Of course, Theo Epstein promised Red Sox Nation that the team would be better defensively and that would lead to fewer runs scored against.

Obviously, the pundits got it all around but one thing they all got right was the fact that nobody expected this start from the Red Sox. But they seem to be improving. They bounced back from a crushing defeat on Monday night when you could have said well this could end the season. Instead they came out battling on Tuesday night and pulled off the come-from-behind win and then went out and took two games from the AL Central-leading Twins.

The Red Sox did get some good news on Thursday night as they said that Jacoby Ellsbury will return to the team and lineup on Saturday night. Ellsbury had three hits and a stolen base in a rehab start on Thursday with the Portland Sea Dogs. He even tested his sliding ability to make sure the ribs would be okay. Since Jonathan Van Every has an option left, he’s the likely candidate to be sent down to make room for Ellsbury.

We’ll be back later with the lineups for tonight’s interleague game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the batter/pitcher matchups and any news and links from the day.

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

And if you must check out the enemy papers, head over to the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press websites.

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

UConn Football links

DC answered some questions in his mailbag [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Video: The case for UConn [ESPN.com – Big East Blog]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Another One On The Way For No. 50 [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Birth of the Cool [David Borges – New Haven Register]

Jeff Adrien Camp, Aug. 5, Newtown [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball: Mike Olt Leads UConn Over Seton Hall in Baseball Action on Thursday [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn baseball team may be school’s best [CT Post]