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Friday lineup

The lineup for Friday night's game:

Coco Crisp CF
Mark Loretta 2B
David Ortiz 1B
Manny Ramirez LF
Trot Nixon RF
Jason Varitek C
Mike Lowell 3B
Joey Cora SS
Jon Lester P

Kevin Youkilis is getting the night -- or at least the start of it -- off, and Coco Crisp returns to the top of the order.

-- SEAN McADAM

Posted by Art  at 5:33 PM | Permalink

Sox recall Kapler, place Clement on DL

ATLANTA -- The Red Sox made a dizzying series of roster moves this afternoon, but the result at the major-league level was a one-for-one swap -- one player moving to the disabled list and another being promoted back from Pawtucket.

The player placed on the disabled list was, as expected, starting pitcher Matt Clement. He was removed from Wednesday night's start at Minnesota after 4 2/3 innings because of shoulder pain, and was placed on the 15-day DL because of what was described as ''shoulder weakness''.

Clement was scheduled to start Monday night's game at Fenway Park against the Washington Nationals. As of late this afternoon, they have yet to announce a replacement starter.

The player recalled was outfielder Gabe Kapler. Kapler, recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered late last season, was batting .200 (3-for-15) in four rehab games with the PawSox.

The Sox also claimed pitcher Kyle Snyder off waivers from Kansas City, but have yet to assign him to a roster in the organization. They have 72 hours to do so. Snyder has spent most of the season at Triple-A Omaha, posting an 0-4 record but with a 3.88 ERA in 10 games, 9 of them starts. In his one appearance with the Royals in 2006 he allowed 10 hits and 9 runs, 5 of them earned, in 2 innings. His career record in the major leagues is 2-9 with a 5.64 ERA.

The Sox had to purchase Kapler's contract to add him to the 40-man roster. To make room for Kapler and Snyder on the 40, the Sox designated relief pitcher Mike Holtz (who had started a rehab assignment at Pawtucket) and outfielder Dustan Mohr (who had been demoted to the PawSox last month) for assignment. The Sox have 10 days to trade or waive the two players; otherwise, they will automatically become free agents.

-- SEAN McADAM

Posted by Art  at 5:23 PM | Permalink

FRIDAY: Red Sox press notes

Pregame Red Sox press notes, courtesy of the Red Sox P.R. department . . .

DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Fri., June 16 @ATL 7:35 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (0-0, 6.23) RHP Tim Hudson (6-4, 3.79) NESN
Sat., June 17 @ATL 1:25 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett (7-3, 5.26) LHP Horacio Ramirez (2-2, 5.06) FOX 25
Sun., June 18 @ATL 8:05 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling (9-2, 3.59) RHP John Smoltz (4-5, 3.78) ESPN
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-FM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

THE LEADOFF GUY: Kevin Youkilis returned to the leadoff spot in the Boston order the last 2 nights for the 1stt time since May 29 . . . Among major leaguers with at least 100 at bats in the leadoff, Youkilis has the 2nd-best on-base percentage:

Player, Team OBP
Reed Johnson, TOR .455
Kevin Youkilis, BOS .441
Ichiro Suzuki, SEA .413
Gary Matthews, Jr., BAL .392
Richie Weeks, MIL .385

Youkilis is 2nd among major league
leadoff batters with 32 walks, trailing
only Detroit’s Curtis Granderson (40).

ABOUT THE SOX: The Red Sox open a 3-game in Atlanta tonight, the 2nd and final stop on this 6-game roadtrip…Boston lost all 3 games in Minnesota to open the trip and has dropped a season high 4 straight overall since defeating Texas in the opener of Sunday’s split doubleheader at Fenway Park…Is the team’s longest losing streak since 4 consecutive defeats, May 24-27, 2005…Last longer streak was 5 losses in a row, May 1-4, 2004…Is also the longest current losing streak among A.L. teams…Sox have lost 5 of 6 and are 6-10 beginning May 29 . . . At 36-28, the Sox have dropped to 8 games
above .500 for the first time since May 24 (26-18)…Have not been 7 over since May 12 (21- 14)…Is Boston’s best record after 64 games since 2004 (37-27/won game 65)…Club was 35-29 and 2nd, 3 GB, after 64 contests a year ago . . . The Sox have been a game behind the Yankees for the last 2 days, the largest deficit since trailing by 1.5 games on June 6…Boston has not been more than 1.5 games out of first place this season…Club is 2nd by .002 over Toronto…Team has been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for first place in the division for 63 of 73 days in 2006…Has been lower than 2nd on just one day, tie for 3rd on April 4 . . . Sox have lost 5 of the last 6 away from home and are 4-9 on the road beginning May 21…Team has dropped its last 2 and 3 of its last 4 road series beginning May 29.

SWEPT AWAY: The 3 losses in Minnesota marked the 1st time that the Sox have lost all games of a series that lasted more than one contest since going 0-3 in Toronto, May 24-26, 2005…The only other time Boston has been swept since the start of 2005 was 2 losses to Baltimore, April 25-26, 2005 at Fenway Park…In the last 2 years, the club has also lost a pair of single game series, both in Boston, Sept. 5, 2005 to Chicago and May 13, 2006 to Texas…Was the 1st time that the Sox had been swept by the Twins since 3 defeats, August 8-10, 1994 at the Metrodome.

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Red Sox won the 1st 2 of a 3-game series in Philadelphia,
May 19-21 in their 1st action versus the National League this season…Boston had won its
last 6 games over N.L. opponents since a defeat to Pittsburgh on June 18, 2005 before
the May 21 setback…Club has also captured 11 of last 13 in interleague play starting
June 12, 2005…Sox are 79-81 lifetime vs. N.L. in regular season, 35-45 on road…Boston
had won a club record 6 straight road interleague contests before the loss in Philly.

PITCHERS PRODUCTIVE AT PLATE: Boston pitchers were 3-for-9 with a homer and two RBI in the 3 games at Philadelphia in May…As a comparison, all other A.L. pitchers are a combined 4-for-36 with two RBI versus the N.L. in 2006… Josh Beckett’s homer on May 20 against the Phillies was the 1st long ball by a Red Sox pitcher since Marty Pattin went deep on Sept. 26, 1972 versus Milwaukee and the 1st by an A.L. pitcher since Kansas City’s Zack Greinke, June 10, 2005 at Arizona…Red Sox starting pitchers have hit safely in 3 of 4 and 6 of the team’s last 8 road interleague games beginning June 11, 2005…Since start of 2005, Sox pitchers have a .258 (8-31) batting average.

BATTING NOTES: Sox were 26-for-112 (.232) with just 6 runs scored in the 3 games in Minnesota and went 5-for-24 with runners in scoring position…Club has a .288 (255-for-886) average over the last 25 contests to improve season figure from .274 to .279, 5th-best in the A.L….Sox did not earn a walk on Thursday for 1st time this season and 1st since August 18, 2005 at Los Angeles Angels, yet lead the league with 275 walks and rank 3rd with a .362 on-base percentage…Sox are batting .266 on the road, 9th in the A.L. and rank 2nd in the A.L. with 186 runs and 51 homers away from home.

STARTING SLOW: Johan Santana, Brad Radke, and Carlos Silva limited the Red Sox to 2 runs in 20.0 innings in the 3 games at the Metrodome…in the last 7 games, opposing starters have gone 3-0 with 4 no-decisions and a 2.64 ERA (13 ER/44.1 IP)…Last opposing starter to lose to Sox was New York’s Jaret Wright, June 8 at Yankee Stadium.

WITH THE GLOVE: The Red Sox have gone 4 games without an error and have 3 miscues in the last 12 games and 12 errors over last 39 contests beginning May 1…Boston leads the majors with a .990 fielding percentage with 23 total errors being 6 fewer than any other major league club (San Francisco)…Is the fewest errors for any major league team in a non-strike season through June 15 since research is first available beginning in 1960 . . . Alex Gonzalez leads A.L. shortstops with a .995 (1 E/206 TC) fielding percentage and has gone 47 games since his lone miscue on April 9 at Baltimore, a single season Sox record for a shortstop, one more than Glenn Hoffman, July 31-Sept. 26, 1982.…Overall team mark is 48 games by Rico Petrocelli, Sept. 25, 1968-May 30, 1969.
RAVES
IT’S AN ANNUAL TRADITION: The Red Sox and Braves play for the 9th season in the ten years since Interleague play began in 1997…Clubs met in home and home series from 1999-2002 and have played at least one series every year but 2003…The Red Sox and Phillies also play for the 9th time in 2006, missing only the 2002 campaign, while the Red Sox and Marlins will play for the 8th season when the teams meet in Florida next month.

2005 AND TRENDS: The Red Sox won 2 of 3 in the lone 2005 series, May 20-22 at Fenway Park, Boston’s 1st winning season vs. the Braves since 1998…Sox won just 2 of 9 meetings in 2002 and 2004…Club’s last visit to Turner Field was July 2-4, 2004, when Sox were 1-2.

ALL-TIME: The Red Sox trail in the all-time series, 23-13…Boston is 5-13 at Fenway Park and 8-10 at Turner Field . . . The Sox are 2-5-1 in the 8 season series with Atlanta, winning in 1998 and 2005 by 2-1 counts…Sox and Braves split 6 games in 2001.

IT’S BEEN A RELIEF: Jonathan Papelbon had his string of 20 consecutive save conversions to start the season snapped in his last save opportunity on June 9 vs. Texas…Was the 2nd blown save of his career, the other on August 27, 2005 vs. Detroit…Is leading the A.L. with 20 saves, 4 shy of the team rookie record by Dick Radatz in 1962 . . . Papelbon has worked a Red Sox season-high 16.0 consecutive scoreless innings in 15 games since issuing his only run of the season on May 3 versus Toronto…His 0.28 earned run average is the lowest among all major league pitchers who have worked at least 8 innings and is the lowest by a big league hurler (20 or more IP) through June 15 since Anaheim’s Brendan Donnelly had a 0.26 ERA (2 R/1 ER/34.2 IP) in 2003.

NATIONAL GAMES: The Red Sox and Braves will play a pair of National TV games this weekend…Saturday’s game will go to approximately 55% of the USA as the FOX Game of the Week…Sunday the clubs close the series as the ESPN National Night Game…NESN will have carried all 65 Sox games in 2006 to that point…Last Saturday versus Texas was supposed to be on FOX but with late start, the game was shifted to NESN.

MANNY RAMIREZ: has 37 homers in interleague play, tied with Sammy Sosa for 4th-most all-time, and 110 RBI, 3rd-most in history.

Posted by Art  at 4:35 PM | Permalink