Sox Roll Past D-Backs to Sweep Series and Improve to 5-1 on Homestand

Postgame, Red Sox 8-5: Bring on Manny. With a series sweep in their back pocket, the Sox turn their attention to the highly anticipated return of Manny Ramirez, who comes to town with his Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

Ramirez will face lefty Felix Doubront, who will be called up prior to the game. The Sox will announce a roster move at that time, and we will update you on it when we hear.

First pitch is 7:10 p.m.

Final, Red Sox 8-5: The Sox had won the first two games of their previous four series but had failed to finish the sweeps each time. No problems putting an end to that pattern with the Diamondbacks in town.

John Lackey picks up his eighth win with six OK innings. The bullpen continues a dominant homestand with three scoreless. David Ortiz hits a two-run homer. Daniel Nava has three hits and scores twice. Marco Scutaro has two hits and drives in three.

That's what you call a team effort.

We'll head down to hear from the boys. Back in a bit.

End 8th, Red Sox 8-4: OK, make it snappy, Pappy. We all have somewhere to be, right?

Jonathan Papelbon will get the last three outs in a non-save situation after the Sox tack on two insurance runs.

By the way, Adrian Beltre has drawn two walks for the first time since April 23. He scored in the eighth on Daniel Nava's RBI double.

Nava has three more hits, including his third and fourth doubles, and has scored twice. Quite a first week for him.

Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-4: The Diamondbacks are down to their last three outs and Jonathan Papelbon has been stirring. He has picked up saves in the first two games of the series. About half of Fenway might be filled if and when he takes the mound.

End 7th, Red Sox 6-4: David Ortiz becomes the second Red Sox runner doubled off a base on a fly ball in this series when he ventures way too far off first on a Kevin Youkilis drive in the seventh that is caught at the wall by center fielder Chris Young.

Hideki Okajima is on to begin the eighth. He is the fourth Red Sox pitcher of the night.

Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-4: Thank God for Mark Reynolds. He strikes out for the fourth time in the game and ninth time in the series (he is 0-for-11 overall) with the bases loaded and two outs, ending a marathon, but scoreless, top of the seventh. It wasn't pretty, but the Red Sox bullpen has given up just one run in 16 innings during this homestand.

It's too bad Game Seven of the NBA Finals couldn't be Friday night. Those "Beat LA!" chants would have so much more meaning with the Dodgers in town.

Something tells me there will be enough to yell about at Fenway when Manny arrives.

It doesn't seem as if many people have left but I bet a few will with the Celtics tip not too far off. There is no way this one is coming close to an end before the end of the first quarter.

8:27 p.m.: Well that didn't last long. Dustin Richardson gives up a leadoff hit to Stephen Drew and is promptly removed in favor of Manny Delcarmen.

End 6th, Red Sox 6-4: Seven men come to the plate in a two-run sixth for the Sox, who turn to Dustin Richardson to start the seventh.

John Lackey gave up four runs — three earned on eight hits — in six innings. Although he wasn't at his best, he is in line for his eighth win.

8:17 p.m.: Three hits, a hit batter and another error lead to two runs (so far) for the Sox in the sixth, chasing Dan Haren from this one. Esmerling Vasquez is on to face Dustin Pedroia with two outs and runners at the corners.

Mid 6th, 4-4: For the first time all night John Lackey has a 1-2-3 inning. He has had several starts like this, where he struggles through several innings but ends on a good note and gets the win when the Sox rally. We'll see if the last part of that formula holds up.

End 5th, 4-4: Back and forth we go. A Marco Scutaro RBI double brings in Daniel Nava with the tying run. Nava narrowly missed his second home run with the Sox, leading the inning off with a double into the triangle in center.

Mid 5th, Diamondbacks 4-3: Miguel Montero's second double of the game drives in Justin Upton, who drew his second walk of the night to lead things off against the struggling John Lackey.

Arizona had a chance to add some more but Mark Reynolds struck out with a man on third to end it.

Reynolds is 0-for-10 with eight strikeouts in the series. He also committed an error in the third that led to two unearned runs. Not a good week for the strikeout king.

End 4th, 3-3: We were waiting for one of these pitchers to settle in. It looks as if Dan Haren may be the first to do so. Haren strikes out two in a perfect fourth and has yielded just two hits so far. Unfortunately for him, one of them was hit by David Ortiz some 420 feet to dead center with a runner on third.

Mid 4th, 3-3: Much has been made of John Lackey's higher-than-normal walk totals and his decreasing strikeout totals this year, but after the Diamondbacks get three more hits in the fourth – including an RBI single by Kelly Johnson – opponents were hitting .296 against Lackey this year.

Opponents have not hit any better than .278 against Lackey in his career, and no higher than .263 since 2004.

End 3rd, Red Sox 3-2: Prior to the game, David Ortiz was honored for winning the American League Player of the Month for May. He's starting to pick things up a bit in June, too.

Ortiz crushes a cutter right down the middle of the plate for a two-run bomb to straightaway center, his 14th of the season and second of the series.

Big Papi is now hitting .254 (14-for-55) with three homers and 12 RBIs in June after a slow start to the month.

Through three innings we have seen six hits, three walks, three unearned runs, two errors, five stolen base attempts (three successful) and one hit batter. Not exactly the crisp, clean affair we were all hoping for.

Mid 3rd, Diamondbacks 2-1: John Lackey hurt himself with a two-out walk in the first. This time, he hurts himself with a throwing error.

Lackey was stung by a comebacker off the bat of Stephen Drew leading off the third. Lackey recovered but threw the ball down the right-field line, allowing Drew to go to second.

A second comebacker was handled and Lackey held Drew at second, but it could've been a double play if the runner was at first. One out later Chris Young doubled to left, scoring Drew.

Young inexplicably tried to steal third with two outs and was a dead duck, taking the bat out of Adam LaRoche's hands with a man in scoring position.

End 2nd, 1-1: OK, so 39 minutes to play two innings. That means just under three hours to finish the game, which means the Celtics and Lakers will just be tipping off when I….oh, sorry, was that out loud?

Dan Haren works around a two-out walk to Adrian Beltre and we move a bit closer to Game Seven.

Mid 2nd, 1-1: A single, played very well off the wall by left fielder Daniel Nava, and a hit batter put John Lackey in another sticky situation, but Nava tracks down a tricky pop near the line to get the big righty out of it.

Nava has looked pretty comfortable in his first week in left, especially when compared to some others who have been thrust into duty out there. Jeremy Hermida comes to mind.

End 1st, 1-1: The slugging Sox fail to hit a ball out of the infield but still manage to tie things up. A walk, stolen base, infield single and fielder's choice gets Dustin Pedroia across.

Kevin Youkilis had the RBI on a groundout to third base, but was then thrown out by several feet attempting to run on Arizona catcher Miguel Montero.

Mid 1st, Diamondbacks 1-0: John Lackey did not walk a batter for the first time in a Red Sox uniform in his last start. He spoils the chance at a repeat performance by issuing a two-out free pass to Justin Upton in the first. Upton promptly steals his 10th base of the season and scores easily on Miguel Montero's double.

Two-out walks. They always kill ya, and in this case it turned what could've been a nice, tidy first inning into one that sees Lackey labor through 23 pitches

5:50 p.m.: We are being treated to some pregame entertainment on Bermuda Night at Fenway Park. Currently, with some native dances are being performed behind home plate. There are multiple "Bermuda Triangle" jokes flying around the press box, referring to various struggling players and what not.

The Sox, however, have few such players, especially with Dustin Pedroia on a sudden hot streak. He is 12-for-24 with six RBIs during a six-game hitting streak.

Here are a few other numbers to mull over while I get dinner:

• Jonathan Papelbon has now recorded at least 15 saves in five straight seasons, the longest streak in team history, eclipsing Dick Radatz's four-year run from 1962-65.
• John Lackey owns a 2.76 ERA in 27 games (26 starts) against NL opponents.
• The Sox rank fourth all-time with a 133-104 record in interleague play, but they lead the majors with an 88-46 mark since 2003.
• Arizona has lost 12 straight road games, the longest slide in team history.
• Mark Reynolds has struck out 91 times, putting him on target to pass his own major league record of 223, set last year.
• The Diamondbacks are 1-8 when tied after nine innings.

5:03 p.m.:Among the many awkward aspects of this evening at Fenway (road closures, early times, more interest in a different sport 3,000 miles away) was the sight of Red Sox pitchers taking batting practice.

With six games in National League parks next week, we saw Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester taking their cuts in the cage.

Lester is 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts in his career at the plate, but he has a very good-looking lefty swing. He put a handful of balls off the Green Monster, and at least one into the bullpens in right.

Buchholz, who has yet to have an at bat at the major league level, did not display such power but looked like he could handle a bat OK.

Boston plays three in Colorado and three in San Francisco starting Tuesday.

4:30 p.m.: The Red Sox have finished batting practice so we will head downstairs to the clubhouse in a bit, but look for a separate piece on Manny Ramirez coming to town, with some good comments from both David Ortiz and Terry Francona.

Francona also spoke about the oddity of this evening, with the early start time and everyone looking forward to the Celtics game.

"I'm all for it," Francona said of the 6:10 p.m. start. "I'd be for this even when the Celtics don't play. I'd even do this for the hockey team, this is great."

As for the basketball game, Francona will have his eye, or at least his thoughts, on it the second the game ends.

"I'm just like everybody else, I get nervous," he said. "Obviously we have to get our priorities in line and win our game tonight, but when our game's over I will be very excited to go watch this game. How can you not be? I love…it's game seven. To watch how people react, it's really cool. I love it."

As for the matters at hand, we have some word on Daisuke Matsuzaka. He will throw in a simulated game Saturday, getting up and down three times and throwing about 15 pitches per "inning."

Francona said they are not looking for anything in particular from Matsuzaka, just a step forward.

"I just want to see how he does," he said.

OK, heading back downstairs. You have the lineups, some Celtics talk and some Manny Ramirez stuff coming your way soon. 

3:29 p.m.: Before running through the updates on Daisuke Matsuzaka (simulated game forthcoming) and a few other items, including the beginning of the Manny Ramirez circus, here are the lineups for the series finale:

Red Sox

Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Victor Martinez, C
J.D. Drew, RF
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Daniel Nava, LF
Darnell McDonald, CF

Diamondbacks

Kelly Johnson, 2B
Stephen Drew, SS
Justin Upton, RF
Miguel Montero, C
Chris Young, CF
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Mark Reynolds, 3B
Gerardo Parra, LF
Rusty Ryal, DH

2:26 p.m.: There is a baseball game tonight, right? You wouldn't know it based on the conversations here at Fenway Park. Everyone is thinking Celtics-Lakers, and/or how this game will affect their ability to watch it.

Well, we know that the weather should cooperate, although there is a slight chance of a passing shower right around 6 p.m.

Shouldn't be an issue.

One thing that will be an issue for everyone is the parking. If you are coming to the game you may want to take public transportation as several streets around Fenway Park will be closed once the third quarter ends in the Celtics game. Now, we hope the Sox and Diamondbacks are done by then, but just be aware of street closures and towing.

The details are as follows:

• Starting at 7:30 p.m., cars parked on Ipswich Street, between Boylston Street and Charlesgate, and on Brookline Avenue, from Park Drive to Kenmore Square, will be towed.
• Brookline Avenue will be closed to traffic from the Landmark Center to Kenmore Square beginning at the end of the third quarter of the Celtics game.
• Win or lose, there will be some lunatics out there looking to break things.

12:05 p.m.: The finale of the Red Sox-Diamondbacks series features a quality pitching matchup, as Boston's John Lackey faces off against Arizona's ace, Dan Haren.

Although neither right-hander is sporting the kind of numbers they would like, both enter on an upswing.

Lackey has given up two runs in seven innings in both of his last two starts and has won his last three decisions overall. Haren, meanwhile, is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in June after going 2-3 with a 6.08 mark in May.

The Sox have won the first two games of each of their past four series, but failed to get the sweep every time. They will try to end that streak Thursday, with the first pitch coming at the revised time of 6:10 p.m.