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Two of baseball's meet as Red Sox host Indians

May 28, 2007 - 1:11 PM Cleveland (31-17) at Boston (34-15) 7:05 pm EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) - Two of the best teams in baseball face off when the Boston Red Sox host the Cleveland Indians in the opener of the three-game series on Monday.

Boston, which currently boasts the best record in the major leagues, has won four of five and is coming off a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers.

Curt Schilling (4-2, 3.94 ERA) takes the mound looking to rebound from his worst start of the season. The righthander was pounded for six runs - five earned and 12 hits in a 8-3 loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

Cleveland has won four in a row and also is coming off a sweep. The Indians, who boast the third best record in baseball behind the Red Sox and New York Mets, swept a three-game series from their American League Central rivals, the Detroit Tigers.

Cleveland will send Cliff Lee (2-1, 5.93) to the mound. Like Schilling, Lee is hoping to rebound for his worst start of the season.

However, unlike Schilling, Lee has a smaller sample size because of a abdominal strain that caused him to miss the first month of the season. In his fifth start of the season, Lee allowed a season-high eight runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings in an 11-7 loss to Kansas City on Wednesday.

Schilling will see a former teammate in the batters box on Monday. Trot Nixon returns to Boston, where he played for 13 years and was a fan favorite because of his hard-nosed play.

Nixon signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Indians after the Red Sox inked.D. Drew to replace him. The right fielder is hitting .281 with two homers and 20 RBI.