UPCOMING SCHEDULE AND PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Mon., July 17 KC 7:05 p.m. RHP Tim Wakefield (7-8, 4.05) RHP Luke Hudson (2-3, 5.79) NESN
Tue., July 18 KC 7:05 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (4-0, 2.89) RHP Brandon Duckworth (1-2, 5.40) NESN
Wed., July 19 KC 1:05 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett (11-5, 5.12) LHP Mark Redman (6-4, 5.38) NESN
Thu., July 20 TEX 2:05 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling (11-3, 3.42) LHP John Rheinecker (4-4, 4.82) NESN
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-FM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

BEHIND THE DISH
Jason Varitek appeared in his 990th game as a major league catcher on Sunday, tying Carlton Fisk for the all-time Red Sox lead. The list of active major league backstops who have appeared in 990 or more games behind the plate:

Games Catcher
1879 Ivan Rodriguez
1636 Brad Ausmus
1585 Mike Piazza
1428 Jason Kendall
1330 Javy Lopez
1301 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
1285 Mike Matheny
1163 Jorge Posada
1106 Mike Lieberthal
990 Jason Varitek

HOMESTAND CONTINUES: The Red Sox open a 3-game series with Kansas City
tonight as this 8-game homestand continues…Boston dropped 3 of 4 to Oakland to open the stand and is 4-7 beginning July 3 to see its lead in the A.L. East fall from 4 to a half game…Club is 6-7 in July but has an 18-8 record since June 16 . . . At 54-36, Boston has its best record after 90 games in the last 20 years (starting 1987)…Last better mark was 57-33 in 1986 (won game 91) …Team has 3rd best win percentage in the A.L. at .600 behind Detroit at .674 and Chicago at .626 . . . Boston’s lead in the A.L. East dropped to a half game on Sunday, its smallest since June 10 (0.5 GA)…Sox have held sole possession of 1st place in the A.L. East for the last 29 days and has also been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for 1st in the A.L. East for 94 of 105 days in 2006.

THE NUMBERS AT FENWAY: In going 1-3 vs. Oakland, Boston lost just its 3rd home series of the season…Team dropped 2 of 3 to Toronto, April 11-13 and to the Yankees, May 22-24…Team last lost 3 of 4 in a home series, July 14-17, 2005 against the Yankees . . . Boston had won 15 of 17 at Fenway prior to the Oakland series…Sox are 21-8 at home beginning May 4…Boston’s 28-13 home record is its best mark after 41 games since 2003 (28-13/lost game 42)...Since the start of 2003, the Sox’ 190-94 (.669) at home, the best winning percentage in the major leagues.

CENTRAL FOE: With Kansas City’s appearance in Boston, it marks the 1st time an A.L. Central Division opponent has played at Fenway Park since the Sox took 2 of 3 from Detroit, August 26-28, 2005…Sox were 11-4 at home against the A.L. Central in 2005…Boston is 5-7 in A.L. Central Division parks in 2006: 2-1 in Chicago and Detroit; 1-2 at Cleveland, and 0-3 in Minnesota.

BATTING NOTES : The Red Sox were held to one or fewer runs for the 9th time in 2006 on Sunday, 1st since being blanked on July 3 at Tampa Bay…Club is 36-for-144 (.250) on this homestand, 8-for-40 with men in scoring position…Overall last 12 games, team average is .242 (109-451) with 60 runs to lower season average from .288 to .282, 5th in the A.L….Boston leads the majors with 400 walks and a .366 on-base percentage . . . Sunday was just the 3rd time Boston has scored a run or fewer at home, the other shutout losses to Seattle on April 15 and Texas on May 12…At Fenway Park, the Sox are batting .317 (306-965) with 176 runs scored in the last 27 games and rank 2nd in the majors with a .305 home average, 4 points behind the Dodgers.

THE DEFENSIVE END: Sox lead the majors with a .990 fielding percentage and with 33 errors, have 9 fewer miscues than any other big league team (Seattle)…Since research is 1st available in 1960, it is the fewest errors by any team through July 16…Boston has just 3 errors in the last 8 games . . . Boston set a new major league record by playing 17 games in a row without an error from June 11-30…Surpassed the previous major league record set by the St. Louis
Cardinals July 30-August 16, 1992…Sox handled 668 chances between errors . . . Sox have 3 infielders among the top 2 in the A.L. in fielding percentage at their respective positions: Alex Gonzalez, 1st at shortstop at .989 (3 E/284 TC); Mark Loretta, 2nd at 2nd base at .990 (4 E/382 TC); Mike Lowell, 2nd at 3rd base at .985 (4 E/269 TC) . . . DAVID ORTIZ leads the majors with 32 home runs and 90 RBI…As a point of comparison, Jimmie Foxx, who holds the Red Sox team records with 50 homers and 175 RBI in 1938, had 24 homers and 94 RBI through July 16…Ortiz’ 32 homers are the most ever by a Red Sox player through season’s 1st 90 games . . . Since the start of the 2005 season, Ortiz leads the majors with 79 home runs (6 more than Andruw Jones) and 238 RBI (28 more than Manny Ramirez) in 248 games . . . Leads the majors with 9 homers and 20 RBI in 13 games in July…For the month Travis Hafner, Chipper Jones, and Jim Thome rank 2nd in the majors in the majors with 6 homers each and Chipper Jones is 2nd with 18 RBI.

Since 1960, a Red Sox player has hit as many as 10 homers in July just 5 times:
12 — Dick Stuart (1964)
11 — Carl Yastrzemski (1970) and Nomar Garciaparra (1998)
10 — Felix Mantilla (1964) and Trot Nixon (2003)…Team record for July is 13, shared by Jimmie Foxx (1939) and Clyde Vollmer (1951)

CATCHING PUDGE: Jason Varitek caught in his 990th game with the Red Sox on Sunday, tying the team’s all-time record for games caught held by Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk…Only 105 players in major league history have caught at least 1,000 games, led by Fisk at 2,226.

THE RED SOX AND ROYALS
-- FIRST MEETING: The Red Sox and Royals meet for the 1st time in 2006 tonight…With this series, the Los Angeles Angels are the only A.L. opponent Boston has not faced in 2006…Sox and Royals meet 6 times this season, with a 3-game set at Kauffman Stadium, August 8-10.
-- 2005 AND TRENDS: The Red Sox were 4-2 against the Royals a year ago, sweeping 3 at Fenway, August 2-4 and going 1-2 in Kansas City, August 23-25…Boston is 17-7 vs. K.C. since start of 2002 and 40-21 since 1998.
-- AT FENWAY PARK: The Red Sox have won 3 in a row since a defeat on May 9, 2004 and have captured 8 of 9 since the start of 2003…Boston is 19-11 at home in the series dating back to 1998.
-- ALL-TIME: The Royals lead the all-time series, which dates to 1969, 197-188…Boston holds a 103-88 edge at Fenway but is 85-109 in KC (75-95 at Kauffman Stadium since 1973.
-- ROYAL TREATMENT: Manny Ramirez has 33 homers and 104 RBI in only 99 career games against the Royals…Home run total ranks as 6th most of any foe vs. K.C., 2nd among actives (Frank Thomas-36) and RBI figure is tied for 7th best, 3rd among actives (Thomas-119; Ruben Sierra-113).

SAVE ME! Jonathan Papelbon is tied for the major league lead with 26 saves, a Red Sox single-season rookie record, breaking Dick Radatz’s mark of 24 saves in 1962…His save total ties Tampa Bay’s Lance Carter (2003) for the 9th most by a rookie in major league history, one behind Wayne Granger (1969), Gregg Olson (1989), and Mike MacDougall (2003) and 11 shy of record set by Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000 . . . Papelbon’s 0.57 ERA is the lowest among all major league pitchers who have worked more than 12 innings.

REACHING 1.5 MILLION AT HOME: The Red Sox will surpass the 1.5 million mark in home attendance tonight in the 42nd date at Fenway Park, the earliest in team history…Previous earliest was on home date #43 in both 2004 and 2005…Boston’s home average of 36,217 ranks as 4th highest in the A.L…Sox have a streak of 267 consecutive sellouts at Fenway Park beginning May 15, 2003.

JUNE RED SOX MINOR LEAGUE AWARDS:
Offensive Player: Brandon Moss, Port.
Pitcher: Kason Gabbard, Portland/Pawt
Defensive Player: Dustin Pedoria, Pawtucket
Base-Runner: Mickey Hall, Wilmington