PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Wed., June 21 WAS 7:05 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (1-0, 3.48) RHP Shawn Hill (1-1, 2.42) NESN
Fri., June 23 PHI 7:05 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett (8-3, 5.09) RHP Ryan Madson (7-4, 5.79) NESN
Sat., June 24 PHI 1:25 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling (9-2, 3.55) RHP Brett Myers (5-3, 3.77) FOX 25
Sun., June 25 PHI 2:05 p.m. RHP Tim Wakefield (5-8, 3.82) RHP Cory Lidle (4-6, 5.00) NESN
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-fM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

INTERLEAGUE WINS: Since the start of 2005, the Red Sox are 19-7 versus National League clubs, a .737 winning percentage that is the best in interleague play among all major league teams in that span:

PCT W-L Team
.737 19-7 Boston
.720 18-7 Chicago (AL)
.692 18-8 Cleveland
.684 13-6 St. Louis
.680 17-8 Seattle
.636 14-8 Florida

Since start of 2005, Boston is hitting an MLB best .309 (286-926) in interleague play and have outscored its N.L. foes, 159-104. Team ERA in this span is 3.89.

ABOUT THE SOX: The Red Sox have won 5 straight games since losing in Minnesota on June 15…That matches the team’s longest winning streak of the season, accomplished twice previously, April 5-11 and May 4-9…Last longer win streak was 6 victories in a row, August 7-13, 2005…Sox are 8-5 since June 8 and 11-8 beginning May 31 . . . At 41-28, Boston is a season best 13 games over .500 and has its best record after 69 games since 2002 (45-24/lost game 70)…Club was 39-30 and 2nd, 2 GB, after 69 contests a year ago . . . The Sox have held a 2-game advantage in the A.L. East for the past 2 days, their biggest advantage since a 2-game margin on May 28…Club has been in the top spot the last 4 days and has been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for first place in the division for 67 of 78 days in 2006 . . . At Fenway Park, the Sox have won 8 of 10 and 13 of the last 18 games, the longer streak beginning May 4…Club’s .667 (20-10) home winning percentage ranks 3rd in the A.L. behind Chicago at .714 (25-10) and Minnesota at .677 (21-10).

INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Red Sox are 7-1 versus the National League this season, winning 5 straight since a loss in Philadelphia on May 21…That matches Detroit the for 2nd best winning percentage (.875) for A.L. team in 2006 interleague play behind Seattle at 7-0…Boston has won 11 of its last 12 and 16 of last 18 in interleague play starting June 12, 2005…Sox are 84-81 lifetime vs. N.L. in regular season, 47-36 at Fenway Park…Sox are 9-2 at home against N.L. teams since start of 2005, winning 8 of the last 9…With wins in the 1st 2 games of this series, team has won its last 9 home series in interleague play since dropping 2 of 3 to St. Louis, June 10-12, 2003…Since that time, Boston is 20- 6 at Fenway Park against the National League.

BATTING NOTES: The Sox had 17 hits on Tuesday, team’s most in a game since having 21 on September 20, 2005 at Tampa Bay…Boston’s 11 runs last night were its most in a game since May 15 at Baltimore (11) and the 6th time this season club has scored at least 10 runs…Sox are 73-for-218 (.343) in last 6 games and have a .296 (316-for-1066) average over the last 30 contests improve season mark from .274 to .284, 5th best in the league and the highest since May 28 (.284)…Sox are batting .339 (184-543) with 105 runs in last 16 games at Fenway Park and lead the league with a home batting average of .306 (311-1016) . . . Sox scored 6 runs in the 2nd inning on Wednesday, their 2nd most productive frame of the season to a 7-run 3rd on April 19 against Tampa Bay…The 6 hits by Boston in that inning were a season best for any frame.

WITH THE GLOVE: The Red Sox have gone 9 games without an error, the team’s longest errorless streak since 9 games from July 30-August 8, 1993…The last time the team had an errorless streak of longer than 9 games was a 10-game span from September 26-October 5, 1986…Have 3 miscues in the last 17 games and 12 errors over last 44 contests beginning May 1…Boston leads the majors with a .991 fielding percentage with 23 total errors being 8 fewer than any other major league club (San Diego)…Are the fewest errors for any major league team in a non-strike season through June 17 since research is first available beginning in 1960…Sox last led A.L. in team fielding for a season in 1950.

CLIMBING FAST: Jonathan Papelbon has earned saves in his last 3 appearances and leads the A.L. with 23 saves, tying Doug Corbett (Minnesota-1980) and Huston Street (Oakland-2005) for 12th most ever by a rookie…Next on list is Dick Radatz (1962), who holds team rookie mark with 24 saves…ML record is 37 by Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000…Has converted 23 of 24 save tries (95.8%), the 2nd best percentage in the majors among pitchers with at least 15 saves to Baltimore’s Chris Ray (18-18) . . . Papelbon has pitched 19 scoreless innings in last 18 games since allowing only run this season on May 3 vs. Toronto…His 0.25 earned run average is the lowest in the majors among all pitchers who have worked at least 7 innings . . . As a point of reference, Dennis Eckersley’s 0.61 era with Oakland in 1990 is the lowest earned run average in a season for a pitcher who has pitched at least 35 innings and at least 50 innings…The Red Sox club record for a season at those minimums is 1.00 by Dutch Leonard in 224 innings in 1914…ERA became an official statistic in 1912.

MANNY RAMIREZ is 5-for-13 with a pair of doubles, 2 homers, and 3 RBI in this last 3 games…Manny’s 113 interleague RBI are the 3rd highest total ever behind Carlos Delgado (128) and Jim Thome (115) and his 39 homers ranks as 4th most…His 453 career homers are tied with Gary Sheffield for 28th all-time, tied for 4th among active players behind Barry Bonds (718), Ken Griffey (548), and Frank Thomas (464).

FENWAY PERFECTION: The Red Sox have won all 8 games at home against the Expos/Nationals, sweeping 3-game series in 1998 and 2000 in addition to 2 victories in this series…Are the most wins without a regular season loss lifetime for the Sox at Fenway Park…Club is 3-0 all-time versus the Astros and Reds…Is the longest current home winning streak versus one team and longest since 8 consecutive Fenway wins versus Tampa Bay, July 19, 2005- April 19, 2006.

STELLAR AT SHORT: Alex Gonzalez leads A.L. shortstops with a .995 (1 E/209 TC) fielding percentage and has gone 49 games since his lone miscue on April 9 at Baltimore, both a single season and overall team mark for a shortstop…Previous overall record was 48 games by Rico Petrocelli, September. 25, 1968-May 30, 1969.

TIME CHANGE: The Red Sox-Orioles game on Saturday, August 12 at Fenway Park has been moved back from 7:05 to a 1:25 p.m. start to accommodate a FOX Saturday telecast…That game had been moved from day to night last month, but FOX once again picked up the contest after losing the Sox-Rangers game on June 10 due to the delayed start by rain.

ROSTER MOVES: The Red Sox today acquired RHP Jason Johnson and a cash consideration from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later or cash…To make room on the active roster, RHP Kyle Snyder was optioned to Pawtucket…In addition, OF Dustin Mohr, who was designated for assignment on June 16 while on option to Pawtucket, has elected free agency instead of accepting outright assignment to Pawtucket.

MARTINEZ SELECTED TO FUTURES GAME ROSTER: Portland Sea Dogs RHP Edgar Martinez (1-3, 3.82) today was selected to play for the World Team at the 2006 XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, July 9 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh…Sea Dogs manager Todd Claus will serve as a coach for the World team, the 2nd straight year he has participated in the event.