The Boston Red Sox are now 2.5 games up on the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East and the team has continued to play well after the All-Star break and now they will start a weekend series against the Royals on the road and after Jon Lester takes the mound on Thursday night, Jake Peavy will face off against Ervin Santana on Friday night.

The Red Sox are 70-46 on the season and are starting to distance themselves from the Rays and after getting a 7-5 win against Houston on Wednesday, the team is ready to keep things going. Last season all this success seemed years away after the team traded Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford and were just simply awful with Bobby Valentine as manager, but clearly a chance at the top with John Farrell was just what the doctor ordered and it has been very good for Lester as well, as he is now 10-6 after having a tough season in 2012.

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Boston has been playing at a great pace this season and they now have a top line pitcher in Peavy after the deadline deal and the play of Stephen Drew has been solid after the team had to give up rookie Jose Iglesias to get it done. Lester was rocked in his last start and now has a 4.52 ERA, although against the Royals, Lester is 6-2 with a 1.64 ERA in nine starts and now he has the chance to get things back on track again. The Sox have been pushing the Al East all season and now they are playing a hot Kansas City team.

The Royals have played their way into the wild card and playoff race at 58-53 and the team has played fantastic since the break and is looking for its sixth straight series win. The Royals bullpen has been stellar recently with a 1.32 ERA over the last 15 games and now they will put Bruce Chen on the mound and he has gone 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA and now every win is important as the schedule moves closer to September.

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