How we see it goin' down: Red Sox - Twins series

First Pitch: Thursday 7:10, Friday 7:10, Saturday 7:10, Sunday 1:35

Arms: Thursday: LHP Jon Lester (5-8, 5.49 ERA) vs. RHP Sam Deduno (2-0, 3.13 ERA)

Friday: LHP Felix Doubront (10-5, 4.37 ERA) vs. RHP Brian Duensing (2-6, 4.53 ERA)

Saturday: RHP Clay Buchholz (9-3, 4.75 ERA) vs. RHP Cole De Vries (2-2, 3.98 ERA)

Sunday: RHP Josh Beckett (5-9, 4.54 ERA) vs. RHP Nick Blackburn (4-6, 7.43 ERA)

                              Yard: Fenway Park   Watch it: NESN   Hear it:  WEEI

The Matchup

Record: 53-52 (4th in the AL East)	Record: 44-60 (4th in the AL Central)
On road: 26-23	At home: 23-32
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Lost 2
Leaders at the plate	Leaders at the plate
Average: Ortiz (.316)	Average: Mauer (.321)
Homers: Ortiz (23)	Homers: Willingham (27)
RBI: Gonzalez (62)	RBI: Willingham (79)
Leaders on the mound	Leaders on the mound
Wins: Doubront (10)	Wins: Diamond (9)
ERA: Doubront (4.37) | Atchison (1.76)	ERA: Diamond (2.93) | Burton (2.36)
K's: Doubront (113)	K's: Diamond (59)

Last time

The Sox last played the Twins all the way back in late April, when Boston didn't totally hate the Red Sox. The Sox swept Minnesota in three games, with Daniel Bard, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz all getting wins. It was the beginning of a six-game winning streak, the best the Sox have had this season.

This time

Laser Show: Adrian Gonzalez 

I'm sticking with Adrian, who I thought would be an MVP candidate this year and is finally starting to show it in the 2nd half. The Twins are rolling our four right-handers

Pitch Around: Denard Span

Josh Willingham is obviously having a great year, but Span has been on fire in the second half. He has a .474 OBP in 18 games. With the Sox rolling out the struggling Lester and either Josh Beckett or some replacement starter, Span could be due for another big week.

Don't Fall Behind: Sam Deduno

I won't pretend to know anything about Deduno, but the Sox need to get off to a good start to the series. Playing bad teams always worries me -- seems like there's an elevated chance of a lack of motivation, already arguably an issue for this team. If they can get to Deduno early, they can hopefully keep the bats hot throughout the series.

How we see it goin' down

I've been doing my usual fantasy football prep with Football Outsiders Almanac, and one of their repeated points is that good teams don't just squeak out wins against good opponents -- they dominate bad teams. (I believe this observation is based on baseball stat work, but don't really remember and don't feel like Googling.) This series could be a good indicator of whether the Sox will continue their winning ways throughout the rest of the season, or whether their recent successes against the Yankees and Tigers were aberrations. Call me a homer, but I think the Sox take three of four and carry some momentum into the Rangers series.