The Boston Red Sox pulled even in the four game series with the Kansas City Royals behind the strong pitching of Jon Lester and the clutch hitting of Dustin Pedroia. Tonight, they look to at least guarantee themselves a split and maintain their one-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.

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 Royals’ television market, you can catch the game on FOX Sports Kansas City. 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.

John Smoltz looks to rebound from a rough outing at Fenway on Monday night. He’s made three starts in a Red Sox uniform and is 0-2 with a 6.60 ERA. He’s faced the Royals just once in his career and is 0-0 with 0.00 ERA and 1 save.

Gil Meche has had good success in his career against the Red Sox and hopes that continues tonight. On the season, he is 4-8 with a 4.14 ERA in 18 starts. Meche has faced the Red Sox 9 times in his career and is 5-2 with a 3.62 ERA. While he’s had his success at home, his record at Fenway isn’t that great. He’s 1-2 with a
5.55 ERA in 4 career starts.

Pregame notes: Francona high on Smoltz [Extra Bases]

For Francona, good news arrives at all hours [Projo Sox Blog]

Lowell ready to go [Projo Sox Blog]

Bard making the most of his opportunity [RedSox.com]

Will Wakefield be the last to wear No. 49 for the Red Sox? [NESN.com]

Here are the lineups for tonight’s game:

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

UConn Huskies senior Tina Charles had her best game of the World University Games as she had 28 points and 18 rebounds to lead Team USA to an 83-64 over Russia to win the gold medal.

Team USA breezed through the tournament at 7-0 and was only really challenged once.

UConn’s Tiffany Hayes added 3 points and 2 rebounds in the championship game.

Maya Moore missed the tournament after spraining her knee in an exhibition game vs Australia. She is expected to be fine for UConn’s season.

Here are some quotes from Charles and Hayes courtesy of USA Basketball:

Tina Charles (Connecticut / Jamaica, N.Y.)

On today’s game:
I just wanted to go out and play the way I know how to play. I treated this like it was a national championship game or a Big East Conference championship game. I know everybody worked hard, everybody wanted to win and that’s what was always on my mind.

On battling Russia’s Olga Yakovleva (No. 15):
She’s a really good player. She was just battling down low, making her shots, doing good moves and trying to carry her team.

How does it feel to win another gold medal?
It feels great. Especially with this group, knowing how hard we worked. We’re all coming from different areas and being able to put aside what we do at our own schools, come together collectively. It means a lot.

You’ve had a heck of a year, going undefeated during the NCAA season and now this summer
Oh yeah, it feels great. I’m just happy. Hopefully I can continue this and go undefeated my senior year.

Tiffany Hayes (Connecticut / Lakeland, Fla.)

How does it feel to win a gold medal?
It feels really good. Especially with these teammates that I have. It’s just a wonderful feeling and I wouldn’t want to do with any other teammates.

You’ve had a heck of a year, going undefeated during the NCAA season and now this summer:
It’s been a real good year for me. Things just keep happening for me and I’m just blessed to be in the position that I’m in, being able to make the team, being able to come over to Serbia. It’s been a wonderful year for me and I’m really thankful for it.

With Brian Bannister putting up zeroes on the scoreboard for the Kansas City Royals, Jon Lester was doing the same for the Boston Red Sox. You sat there and wondered who would be the first one to give in. Fortunately for the Red Sox, it was Bannister.

Mark Kotsay broke through with a hit and was pinch-run for. In a play that will go unnoticed, Nick Green laid down a 2-strike bunt (of course he failed on the first two tries) to move Aaron Bates over. J.D. Drew couldn’t get the job done but the reigning AL MVP, Dustin Pedroia did, causing Lester to give the fist pump of approval from the dugout.

The game-saving play of the night though belongs to Rocco Baldelli, who took over for Jacoby Ellsbury after he was ejected from throwing his helmet.

With runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs, Miguel Olivo hit a deep fly to center. Rocco reeled it in and threw the ball back in quickly and got Mark Teahan, who had 3 of the 4 hits Lester allowed, at second as he was trying to advance. Had Ellsbury been in the game, the outcome may have been different since his arm isn’t as strong as Rocco’s.

With the win last night and the Yankees loss to the Angels, the Red Sox now find themselves back in first place by a game in the AL East.

I posed this question on Twitter last night. Were you one of the people who thought the Red Sox should have traded Lester for Johan Santana?

I will admit that that I was one of them because at the time there was a lot of unknown with Lester. I can honestly tell you that I’m glad I was wrong because Lester is quickly emerging as one of the best lefties in the game.

His stuff was nasty last night. He had good command on all of his pitches and he worked all areas of the plate. He’s had great success against the Royals especially at Fenway Park. In three starts, he hasn’t given up a run in 25 innings and only allowed five hits and eight walks with 21 strikeouts.

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UConn Football links

Blue Chippers Or Second Tier To Make Up This Class? [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Best Season Yet? [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Why Does Edsall Bring In Recruits Later Than Others? [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

Former Husky Donald Thomas Ready To Resume His Rise [Hartford Courant]

Patriots sign second-round pick Darius Butler [Boston Herald]

Darius Butler Agrees To 4-Year Deal With Pats [Hartford Courant]

Butler, Pats agree on four-year deal [It Is What It Is]

Butler seals the deal [Boston Globe]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Huskies’ Hayes showing promise for USA [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

UConn’s Gordon and Villanueva Highlights [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Which College Program Has Produced the Best Current NBA Talent (A Top 10 List) [Basketball Fiend]

4 hoops programs looking to fill vacancies [Sporting News]

Many people hate a good ol’ fashioned pitchers duel. Me, I’m not one of those people.

Brian Bannister and Jon Lester exchanged zeroes for 7 1/2 innings but the Boston Red Sox finally broke through for a run in the 8th to beat the Kansas City Royals 1-0 in front of 38,116 at Fenway Park.

Bannister had been dealing all night long but things took a turn for the worse for him in the 8th.

Mark Kotsay led off the inning with a single and was pinch-run for by Aaron Bates. Nick Green then attempted to bunt him over but failed on the first two tries. Terry Francona left the bunt on with two strikes and Green executed it perfectly to get Bates into scoring position.

Bannister struck out J.D. Drew for the second out and then uncorked a wild pitch to move Bates over to third with Dustin Pedroia at the plate. It wouldn’t matter though as Pedroia hit a wall ball double to bring in Bates and give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.

Jonathan Papelbon came on for the save in the 9th and much to the surprise of all of Red Sox Nation, set the heart of the Royals order down 1-2-3 for his 23rd save of the season.

With the Yankees on the west coast right now, the Red Sox (52-34) hold a .5 game lead over them in the AL East. It’ll either be a 1-game lead in the morning or they’ll be tied. The Royals fall to 37-49.

There’s so many adjectives out there to describe Lester’s performance tonight on the mound. I’m going with dominating as I thought this was his best performance of the season. He used all of his pitches and used them all well as he used all parts of the strike zone.  He gave up just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 in 8 innings to pick up his 8th win of the season. He also lowered his ERA to 3.87.

Lester has not allowed an earned run in 3 starts against the Royals now at Fenway.

Bannister ended up being the tough luck loser. He was just as good as Lester was tonight as his off-speed stuff kept the Sox hitters off balance. He went 7 2/3 innings, allowing the 1 run on just 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 7.

Pedroia had the biggest hit of the night with the RBI double while Jacoby Ellsbury and Kotsay had the others.

Speaking of Ellsbury, he was thrown out of the game in the 5th inning after he was called out at home plate.

Kotsay had tried to go second on pitch in the dirt by Bannister and Ellsbury broke for home. Ellsbury slide in and was called out and threw his helmet in disgust and got tossed. Replay showed that Ellsbury was indeed safe.

Definitely a pleasure to watch Lester and Bannister duel tonight. Hopefully the Red Sox bats can wake up tomorrow night and give John Smoltz some run support. It’ll also help if Smoltz pitches a little better than he did his last time out at the Fens. He’ll be opposed by Gil Meche.

After watching the bullpen blow the game last night, the Boston Red Sox look to rebound in Game 2 of a 4-game set with the Kansas City Royals.

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 Royals’ television market, you can catch the game on FOX Sports Kansas City. 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.

The last time Jon Lester faced the Royals at Fenway Park, he threw a no-hitter. While we hope can do that again tonight, realistically I’ll take a good game from him and a win (personal and fantasy team purposes). Lester is making his 18th start in 2009 and is 7-6 with a 4.16 ERA. He’s faced the Royals 3 times in his career and is 2-1 with a 1.64 ERA.

Brian Bannister has made 15 starts this season for Trey Hillman. He’s 6-6 with a 3.87 ERA. Bannister has faced the Red Sox three times in his career and is 0-3 with an 8.22 ERA. He’s made two of those starts at Fenway Park where he is 0-2 with an 8.74 ERA.

Pregame: Sox Vs. Royals [Extra Bases]

Dom DiMaggio To Be Honored at Fenway on Sunday [Better Red Than Dead]

Red Sox show interest in Halladay [Projo Sox Blog]

Youkilis chooses not to enter Home Run Derby [WEEI.com]

An open letter to the Boston Red Sox bullpen [Red Sox Monster]

Unlikely All-Star [Center Field]

Here are the lineups for tonight’s game:

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

Today we should be talking about David Ortiz and the fact that he hit the 300th home run of his career last night that put the Boston Red Sox out front 3-0 in the first inning. Instead, we are talking about the bullpen meltdown for the local nine that helped give the Kansas City Royals an 8-6 win.

Brad Penny gave the Red Sox his typical outing of 5 innings and allowing 3 runs. He turned it over to the bullpen with a 1-run lead only to find it gone at the end of the 6th.

With all of the talk that the Red Sox need a bat in case Mike Lowell doesn’t return to form, why isn’t there any talk for some bullpen help. It is quite conceivable that Manny Delcarmen could be moved for bat but who takes his place.

The Red Sox bullpen really has been one of the best in baseball but lately they have brought the suck. It seems like on a different night, it is someone different. Last night it was Delcarmen and Justin Masterson’s turn as they combined to allow four runs. Masterson actually allowed the inherited runners of MDC’s to score as well.

Commenter Mitch Mullins made a great point the other day. Why doesn’t Daniel Bard have an increased role in the bullpen yet. With Takashi Saito being mediocre as of late and Ramon Ramirez struggling at times, why isn’t Bard pitching in different spots. He came in last night and bailed Ramirez, who did pitch decently, out and then worked a perfect 9th inning to give the Red Sox a chance to comeback.

The worst part of that loss last night, besides the bullpen fail, is the fact that the Red Sox are now tied for first in the AL East with their hated rivals to the south. No one wants to see the New York Yankees head into the All-Star break in first place and having the utmost confidence as they go forward.

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