Red Sox @ Blue Jays, tonight at midnight - LIVE!

MrJoeSoap

David Ortiz and the Red Sox head to the Rogers Centre to take on Troy Glaus and the Blue Jays in this meeting of AL East rivals.

Plenty of fans of both sides on here I think, so should be a decent amount of interest in this one. Sox begin a tough road trip tonight.

Live on Setanta at midnight tonight.

The Red Sox begin what figures to be one of the most challenging road trips of the season on Monday night against the Blue Jays. The 10-day trip features three games at Toronto, followed by three against the red-hot Tigers and then four against the Yankees in the Bronx.

"It's going to be a tough road trip, but this team has a confidence about them," said catcher Doug Mirabelli. "This is going to be a tough road trip, but we have the personnel and the confidence to be successful."

The Red Sox will need pitching if it's going to be a productive road trip. Matt Clement will start things in Toronto, opposed by Jays ace Roy Halladay.

Clement was belted on the right ankle by a line drive in his last start, but manager Terry Francona said that he should be fine entering this outing.

"He hasn't missed any work, his week hasn't been different," said Francona. "He just has a nice bruise."

The Sox welcomed Coco Crisp back from the disabled list on Sunday and hope to get Manny Ramirez (out the last two games with back and knee woes) back in the cleanup spot on Monday night. Ramirez has traditionally feasted on the Blue Jays.

Pitching matchup
BOS: RHP Matt Clement (4-4, 6.31 ERA)
Coming off an outing in which both his body and ego were bruised, the right-hander hopes to rebound against a team that's accounted for half his win total. Clement beat Toronto, 6-3, on April 23 at Rogers Centre, helping the Sox avoid a three-game sweep. He also beat the Jays, 7-4, at Fenway on May 4. But in his last start, a Bernie Williams liner hit him above the right ankle as the Yankees rocked him for eight runs over 4 1/3 innings in an 8-6 loss.

TOR: RHP Roy Halladay (6-1, 2.77 ERA)
The Toronto ace was dominant in his last start, a 4-1 Toronto win over Tampa Bay. Halladay limited the Devil Rays to one run on seven hits over 8 2/3 innings. He matched his season high of seven strikeouts, recorded 15 outs via the ground ball and only three Devil Rays made it as far as second base the entire game. Halladay is 8-6 against the Red Sox in his career, including 1-0 this season. The Blue Jays have not lost a Halladay start against Boston since May 21, 2004.

Player to watch
Mark Loretta continues to hit at a torrid pace, bringing a 13-game hitting streak into Monday's game. He is batting .418 over that span.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060528&content_id=1476209&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

zuutroy

Halladay's great to watch.

Jays on Telly tonight, I'm off work tomorrow, and Halladays pitching all by coincidence.
Isn't it nice when things just work!

MrJoeSoap

Really excellent game so far, bottom of the 8th and Jays have just re-taken the lead.

7-6, having been 6-0 to the good.