Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox 7:10 p.m. Fenway Park – Boston, MA SP: C.J. Wilson vs Clay Buchholz TV: NESN, MLB Network, MLB.tv Radio: Red Sox Radio Network

Afternoon Red Sox Delight – 4/22 [SOX & Dawgs]

As everyone knows by now, Texy over at Center Field is no longer doing gameday threads. Since I was a frequent visitor to there and know how much everyone enjoyed them, I decided to host them this year.

So for those who haven’t been here before, welcome. For those, who have, welcome back!! I hope you enjoy my new home here at Bloguin.

The Boston Red Sox will look to give skipper Terry Francona a nice 51st birthday present with a win tonight that would give them a 3-game sweep of the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.

First pitch for tonight’s game will be at 7:10 p.m. and will be shown on NESN in the Red Sox television market. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest in the Rangers television market. And for those not in either market, the game will also be shown nationally on the MLB Network. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

Clay Buchholz will look to deliver Francona a nice outing on the bump as he fights for his pitching life in the Red Sox rotation. Clay’s made two starts this season and is 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA.  He made one start in 2009 against the Rangers taking the loss after allowing three runs in four innings. He’s made two career starts against the Rangers and is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA.

C.J. Wilson moved out of the pen and into the starting rotation in 2010 for the Rangers. He’s making his third start this season and just the 9th of his career. He’s 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA. He’s made 12 career appearances in relief against the Red Sox and is 0-1 with a 2.53 ERA and three saves, all of which came last season. In six appearances at Fenway, he is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA (2 ER/3 IP) and a save.

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

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

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

Ellsbury has hairline fracture of four ribs [Clubhouse Insider]

Dice-K poised to rejoin rotation [Clubhouse Insider]

Ellsbury asked for more testing [Clubhouse Insider]

Is Buchholz pitching for his job tonight? [ESPN Boston]

Ellsbury has hairline fractures in 4 ribs [ESPN Boston]

Francona rules out six-man rotation [ESPN Boston]

NESN’s Watney on medical leave [Extra Bases]

Forget Gonzalez, what about a catcher? [Extra Bases]

Good day for two former first basemen [Extra Bases]

Ellsbury has fractures; Dice-K set to join rotation [Extra Bases]

So, is Daisuke ready for the majors? [Full Count]

Francona: Dice-K ‘in the rotation’ [Full Count]

Is Buchholz pitching for a rotation spot tonight? [Full Count]

Quick Thoughts [Hit and Run with Dan Roche]

Mike Cameron Could Be Facing Surgery If Strain Doesn’t Heal [NESN.com]

Does Darnell McDonald Deserve Roster Spot for Rest of Season? [NESN.com]

Daisuke Matsuzaka to Rejoin Rotation, But in Place of Whom? [NESN.com]

Boxscore Breakdown – Wednesday Walkoff! [Nuggetpalooza]

Red Sox hope to feed off Scutaro’s scamper [Projo Sox Blog]

Rangers out to end trip on high note [RedSox.com]

Fenway hosting Cape Cod League ASG again [RedSox.com]

Darnell McDonald Goes From Minors to Overnight Sensation [Tom Caron – NESN.com]

Apparently the Boston Red Sox have a flair for the dramatic. For the second night in-a-row, the Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers on a walk-off hit, this time coming off the bat of Kevin Youkilis.

The Red Sox had been down on their luck and also for the second straight, it wasn’t looking good early on. Josh Beckett struggled with his command and the Rangers took advantage of it scoring four early runs. Beckett’s start have been a mixed bag this season as he’s looked the ace we’ve come to known and expect. And other times, he’s looked terrible like he did yesterday.

He did settle down though and the offense picked him up as Mike Lowell hit a solo home run in the 2nd, J.D. Drew had a grand slam in the 3rd and Wednesday night’s hero Darnell McDonald had a solo shot in the 4th.

You have to wonder if Terry Francona left Beckett in too long as his command reverted back to the first two innings. After giving up a 3-run homer to Josh Hamilton, he finished out the inning but the damage had been done. The bullpen did pick him up though as the combination of Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon were simply put, outstanding.

Another thing that we need to ponder is how will Francona use David Ortiz going forward. After seeing Mike Lowell get two hits last night, including the solo home run (his other hit was an RBI single), you really have to think that he’ll be the DH going forward, at least against lefty starters.

Big Papi is hurting the team and he knows it. He’s done so much for this club in his time here in Boston but there comes a time and a place where both parties have to move on. If he doesn’t turn things around soon, that time could come sooner rather than later.

We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups 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 Dallas Morning News and Ft. Worth Star-Telegram websites.

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

UConn Football links

Where will the Huskies get taken in the NFL Draft [SOX & Dawgs]

Edsall on WTIC Friday [Neill Ostrout – CT Post]

UConn CB McClain Has Heard From Several NFL Teams [Hartford Courant]

Marcus Easley Confident Of An NFL Future [Hartford Courant]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Battle cut by Liberty [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

Juat Remember. It’s “Gee-No, Oar-Ree-Em-Muh” [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Commending the University of Connecticut Huskies for their historic win in the 2010 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. [The Library of Congress]

Other UConn related links

Paul Tagliabue To Serve As Special Advisor To BIG EAST [UConnHuskies.com]

Softball: Huskies Drop A Pair To Providence [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball: Ferriter Leads Huskies Past URI 14-9 [UConnHuskies.com]

With the NFL Draft kicking off tonight at 7:30 p.m., it’s time to take a look at where the UConn Huskies football players might end up.

Last year, the Huskies had four players drafted within the first 63 players. That’s unlikely to happen this year but we should hear some Huskies get their names called during the draft.

In his lastest mock draft, Todd McShay of Scouts, Inc has wide receiver Marcus Easley as the only Husky to be drafted. McShay projects that Easley will be taken in the 5th round (138th overall) by the Oakland Raiders. Draft guru Mel Kiper only does projections for the first four rounds and has no Huskies taken that early.

NFLDraftScout.com projects Easley to go in the third round. They have running back Andre Dixon projected to go in the 7th round or sign as an undrafted free agent. And they have defensive end Lindsey Witten getting drafted in either the 4th or 5th round.

They also project one other Husky in cornerback Robert McClain who they think will get drafted in the 6th or 7th round.

I will be following the draft over the weekend and will do my best to let you know where these Huskies end up.

On Tuesday night, it was the unlikeliest of heroes in Darnell McDonald for the Boston Red Sox. On Wednesday night, it was time for Kevin Youkilis to take a beating from his teammates.

Youkilis’ two-out double off the Green Monster brought in Marco Scutaro to help the Red Sox to an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers in 12 innings in front of 37,518 at Fenway Park.

With the win, the Red Sox improve to 6-9 while it’s the sixth straight loss for the Rangers (5-9).

It actually took a key base running play by Marco Scutaro to help set the stage for Youk.

After Dustin Nippert struck out Jeremy Hermida to start the 12th, Scutaro reached on a single. He tagged up on a fly ball out by J.D. Drew that Rangers center fielder Julio Borbon had to back up to catch to put himself into scoring position.

With visit to the mound by Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, it was decided they would intentionally walk Dustin Pedroia, who was 5-for-9 against Nippert to get to Youk. Nippert fell behind him 3-0 before coming back to get a called strike and foul ball by Youk. On the 3-2 count, Youk drove it to almost the same spot as McDonald to bring in Scutaro and set off another wild celebration at the Fens.

Josh Beckett started this one for the Red Sox and struggled early on. He basically had no command of his pitches as he was torched for four early runs in the first two innings. He settled down after that as his team came back and got him the lead. But in the end with his pitch count over 100 in the 7th, he gave up a 3-run blast to Josh Hamilton that knotted it up at seven.

Beckett went seven innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits with five walks and four strikeouts. The bullpen picked him up though.

Daniel Bard struck out three in two innings while Jonathan Papelbon gave up a hit and had a strikeout in two innings as well. Hideki Okajima worked a 1-2-3 12th inning, including two strikeouts to pick up the win.

Mike Lowell had a good night as the DH for the Red Sox with two hits, including a solo home run off the Sports Authority sign above the Green Monster, and two RBIs. Youk had two hits and Scutaro added two hits while J.D. Drew’s only hit of the night was a grand slam. McDonald’s legend grew a little more as he added a solo home run as well.

After trailing 4-0 after 1 1/2 innings, the Red Sox got back into the game on a solo home run by Lowell in the 2nd, the grand slam by Drew in the 3rd and McDonald’s solo blast in the 4th gave them a 6-4 lead. Lowell’s RBI single in the 5th made it 7-4 before Hamilton’s 3-run homer in the 7th tied it up.

The Red Sox will look for the sweep on the Rangers on Thursday night with Clay Buchholz on the mound. He’ll be opposed by lefty C.J. Wilson. Buchholz could be pitching for his spot in the rotation with Daisuke Matsuzaka set to return to the rotation.

Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox 4.21.10 box score