The Boston Red Sox will finish up interleague play this afternoon in the condom game of a three-game set against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. The Red Sox are currently 12-5 against the NL.

This afternoon's game will start at 4:05 p.m. and will be shown in the Red Sox television market on NESN. If you live in the Giants television market, you can catch the game on CSN Bay Area. If you can't catch the television broadcast, you can always listen to the game on the 2010 Red Sox radio network.

Jon Lester will be looking to bolster his All-Star creditials in his 16th start. In his previous 15 starts, Lester is 8-3 with a 3.03 ERA. He's never faced the Giants in his career. In 12 career interleague starts, Lester is 6-2 with a 2.86 ERA.

The two-time reigning NL Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum will toe the rubber for Bruce Bochy's Giants squad this afternoon. "The Freak" has made 15 starts this season and is 8-2 with a 2.86 ERA. He's never faced the Red Sox in his career. Lincecum is 5-2 with a 3.63 ERA in 10 career interleague starts.

Lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, and links after the jump.

The Boston Red Sox may have beaten the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Saturday but they did also lose. How did they lose you ask? Well they lost Dustin Pedroia for probably the next six weeks and they also lost Clay Buchholz to a knee injury suffered while running the bases in the top of the 2nd inning.

The loss of Pedroia is a key one as he is the emotional leader of this club as well as being great defensively and one of the hottest hitters. You just can't replace a Pedroia on the field and in the lineup. But you can bet he'll still be the same old fiery presence in the clubhouse.

The Red Sox did acquire some help while Pedey is out as they traded minor league pitcher Fabian Williamson to the Oakland A's for IF/OF Eric Patterson. It's not known if Patterson will join the big league team as of yet but he'll give the Red Sox a little depth. The Red Sox did call up Angel Sanchez from Triple-A Pawtucket to replace Pedroia on the 25-man roster.

While I'm a big fan of interleague play, it does suck that AL pitchers have to do something they probably haven't done since high school or college and that's hit. The injury to Buchholz is the second injury the Red Sox have suffered this season, Josh Beckett's back the other, due to the NL rules. Of course Beckett hurt his preparing but it's all the same in my book.

Unfortunately, I don't think you can change the interleague rules to have the DH because then you're giving the AL teams an unfair advantage as they're equipped to have the DH as most teams have full-time DH's.

Like I said above, I do like interleague play. You always hear about certain players in the NL but maybe other than in an All-Star Game or a World Series, how often do you get a chance to face them. Think about it for a second, the other night the Red Sox got to face the best pitcher in the NL this season in Ubaldo Jimenez. And today, they get to face the two-time reigining NL Cy Young award winner in Tim Lincecum.

That's what makes it fun. But it doesn't become that way when you see your team lose their best pitcher in 2010. Fortunately from the sound of things, the hyperextended knee suffered by young Clay doesn't appear to be anything serious. And with the off days on Monday and Thursday, it's quite likely he should be able to make his next start on Saturday.

We'll be back later with today's lineups, batter/pitcher matchups, any news and links from the day but for now enjoy the overnight links after the jump.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

2010 Connecticut Preview [CollegeFootballNews.com]

UConn Women's Basketball links

Tina ready to return home [Jim Fuller - New Haven Register]

Dolson, Hartley go for gold [Jim Fuller - New Haven Register]

Hartley Leads U.S. Into U-18 Gold Medal Game [Rich Elliott - CT Post]

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Amanda Bruno is a freelance sportswriter for The Springfield Republican. She also writes over at Batter-up with Bruno where she shares her thoughts about the Boston Red Sox and the Boston sports media. You can follow her on Twitter @batterupbruno and can reach Amanda through email at brunosportshawk[at]gmail.com.

During the Strikeforce event at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Fabricio Werdum submitted Fedor Emelianenko with a triangle choke/armbar at 1:32 of the first round.

Werdum should get a heavyweight title shot against Alistair Overeem but he said he'd like to give Fedor a rematch first.

Here's the video for you to enjoy:

After Scott Smith took their first fight, it was Cung Le's turn to even the score. And even the score he did as he beat Smith by a TKO due to strikes at 1:46 of the second round during the Strikeforce event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose on Saturday night.

Here's the video for you to enjoy:

During the Strkeforce event at HP Pavilion in San Jose on Saturday night, MMA legend Frank Shamrock announced his retirement from the sport. He will continue on as a full-time analyst for Strikeforce events on Showtime.

Here's the video for you to enjoy:

During the Strikeforce event at HP Pavilion in San Jose on Saturday night, Cris Cyborg beat Jan Finney by TKO via strikes at 2:56 of the second round. Cyborg retains her Strikeforce Women's Featherweight championship belt.

Here's the video for you to enjoy:

Boston Red Sox @ San Francisco Giants 7:10 p.m AT&T Park SP: Clay Buchholz vs Madison Bumgarner TV: FOX Radio: Red Sox Radio Network

Evening Red Sox Delight - 6/26 [SOX & Dawgs]