BOSTON -- Tonight's Red Sox lineup, along with pregame notes courtesy of the Red Sox P.R. department
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
David Ortiz DH
Josh Reddick RF
Carl Crawford LF
Marco Scutaro SS
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Mike Aviles 3B
Eric Bedard P
SEPTEMBER STANDOUTS
Jacoby Ellsbury leads the major leagues with 30 hits, 10 doubles and 15 extra-base hits this month . . . Marco Scutaro is tied for the major-league lead with 18 RBI in September and is third in the majors, and second in the A.L. (min. 50 PA) with a .422 average (27-for-64) during the month.
VS. THE O's
Boston plays five of its remaining eight games against Baltimore, with the third of a four-game set being played tonight at Fenway Park . . . The Sox, who split a doubleheader with the Os yesterday, will travel to Baltimore next week and end the regular season with a three-game series at Camden Yards from Monday to Wednesday . . . They are 9-4 against the Orioles so far this year, and won seven straight against Baltimore from April 28 to July 18 . . . With a victory tonight, Boston will win the season series against Baltimore for the sixth time in the last seven years . . . The teams split the series, 9-9, last season . . . The Red Sox have won of their seven games vs. the Os at Fenway this year, outscoring Baltimore 63-35 . . . Sox batters have been in double digits in hits all seven, batting .365 (95-for-260) . . . Boston is 24-6 (.800) vs. the Os at Fenway Park since July 12, 2008 . . . The Sox have 513 victories against the Orioles since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954, the clubs most wins against any team in that span and the second-most ever vs. the Os. (The Yankees have won 523.)
ELLS AND THE Os
Ellsbury has hit safely in each of his last 31 games against Baltimore, batting .439 (61-for-139) . . . According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it ties two Hall of Famers for the longest hitting streak ever recorded against the Orioles franchise. Earl Averill (from 1929-31) and Jimmie Foxx (1935-36) each had at least one hit in 31 consecutive games against the St. Louis Browns, who relocated and became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.
200 CLUB
Adrian Gonzalez, who had five hits in the two games yesterday, is now at 203 hits, the third-most in a single season for a Red Sox first baseman . . . Mo Vaughn had 207 hits in 1996 and 205 in 1998 . . . Ellsbury is one hit shy of recording 200. The Red Sox have had two players record at least 200 hits in a season only twice before: Wade Boggs (240) and Bill Buckner (201) in 1985, and Boggs (207) and Jim Rice (200) in 1986.
Boston Red Sox
DOUBLE TIME
The Sox lead the majors with 336 doubles, 30 more than the next-highest total (Royals, 306) . . . Ellsbury (tied for second, with 45), Gonzalez (tied for fith, with 44) and David Ortiz (tied for 10th, with 39) are all among the major-league doubles leaders . . . With Ortiz next double, they will become the first trio of Red Sox teammates to reach 40 doubles in a single season.