As has been previously covered, today has been a busy day in the Raysverse:
- Evan Longoria has been signed to a contract that guarantees his money for the next 6 years. It gives the Rays options on 3 of his free agency years.
- Dan Johnson has been claimed off waivers from the Oakland Athletics. Calvin Medlock was DFA’d to make room for him on the 40-man roster.
- No 25-man roster move has been made to bring Johnson in yet. My best guess is that Justin Ruggiano will be sent to Durham.
After a Twin killing yesterday in Minneapolis, the Rays will attempt to make it two-in-a-row as the Chicago White Sox head down to the Trop. The Sox are off to a nice start to the season – 9-6 – so a win in this series could do wonders for the team’s confidence.
What to watch for: Let’s see if we can make it through a series without someone getting hurt. Our DL is starting to get more crowded than The Trop on a Wednesday night game against the Rangers.
Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Jeff Niemann – The 25-year old is coming off an impressive Major League debut on Sunday, in which he held Baltimore to just one run over six innings. The righty scattered six hits, and he allowed only one walk while striking out five. At 6-foot-9, Niemann is an intimidating pitcher, and when he is in command, his sinking fastball is extremely hard for opposing batters to dig out.
Javier Vazquez – Make it two straight stellar starts for Vazquez, who allowed only one Detroit runner to reach second base during Sunday’s 11-0 victory over the Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field. Vazquez did not issue a walk, while striking out nine over seven innings. He gave up a Gary Sheffield double and four singles among his 92 pitches, of which 69 were thrown for strikes. Vazquez moves out of the American League Central, having faced Cleveland, Minnesota and Detroit to open the season, and he will begin the weekend set against the Rays. Vazquez has a 4-2 career record against Tampa Bay, with a 4.66 ERA.
Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Javier Vazquez.
View the game preview from Baseball Reference.
| TAMPA BAY RAYS |
CHICAGO WHITE SOX |
| 2B – Akinori Iwamura | CF - Nick Swisher |
| LF – Carl Crawford | SS – Orlando Cabrera |
| CF – B.J. Upton | DH – Jim Thome |
| 1B – Eric Hinske | 1B – Paul Konerko |
| 3B – Evan Longoria | RF – Jermaine Dye |
| DH – Jonny Gomes | C – A. J. Pierzynski |
| C – Mike DiFelice | LF – Carlos Quinton |
| RF – Nathan Haynes | 3B – Pablo Ozuna |
| SS – Jason Bartlett | 2B – Juan Uribe |
Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!
Tags: White Sox
April 18th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hinske is a baseball renaissance man, where doesn’t he play at?