BREAKING NEWS — The Rays made the right move, sending Jason Hammel to the bullpen to make room in the rotation for Scott Kazmir. Looks like Justin Ruggiano will be optioned back out on Sunday when Kaz comes off the DL.
This is it: the showdown for control of the American League East. How many of you HONESTLY believed we’d be saying that in May? No Kazmir. Virtually no Cliff Floyd. Very little production out of Aki and Bartlett. Big-time slumpage by Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford. And look at this: the Rays are in first place in the American League East and can put some distance between themselves and the Red Sox with a big weekend in Fenway.
Has there ever been more pressure on the team to perfrom well? Probably not. After last weekend’s sweep, and then taking 2-of-3 from Baltimore to wrest control of the division away, the eyes of the baseball world will be fixed on Fenway as the heirs to the American League East throne take one step closer to stealing the crown from the kings. A 2-out-of-3 series win would be ENORMOUS for this young team. I don’t even want to begin to think what another sweep could mean. Let’s just take things one day at a time…
What to watch for: Cross your fingers that “Nuke” doesn’t show up tonight. Because if Edwin Jackson gets bombed, the Rays are going to be in trouble. Buchholz is good, and he showed it against the Rays last time around. After seeing that, you can’t expect but to get more than a few runs off of him. Let’s hope that they prove me wrong.
Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Edwin Jackson - Jackson had a nice outing against the Red Sox Saturday night when he allowed one run on five hits en route to a no-decision. The right-hander continues to show electric stuff, but struggles on the nights when his stuff is not at its best. Jackson has worked to try to minimize the big inning. If he is locating his 97-mph fastball, his other pitches can work well, particularly his slider. But he has shown no hint that he is close to finding consistency on the mound. Jackson is 0-1 with a 6.92 ERA in three appearances at Fenway Park.
Clay Buchholz - he young hurler is coming off a brilliant performance in which he held Tampa Bay to three hits over 7 2/3 innings. The right-hander had a no-hitter until the fourth inning, and a shutout until he allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. Although he took the loss, Buchholz had a dominating nine strikeouts and just two walks. He has thrown at least six innings in all five of his career starts and will look to continue that momentum when he faces the Rays for the second time in his young career.
Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Clay Buchholz.
View the game preview from Baseball Reference.
| TAMPA BAY RAYS |
BOSTON RED SOX |
| 2B – Akinori Iwamura | CF – J.D. Drew |
| LF – Carl Crawford | 2B – Dustin Pedroia |
| DH – Jonny Gomes | DH – David Ortiz |
| 1B – Carlos Pena | LF – Manny Ramirez |
| 3B – Evan Longoria | 3B – Mike Lowell |
| RF – Eric Hinske | 1B – Kevin Youkilis |
| C – Dioner Navarro | RF – Brandon Moss |
| CF – Gabe Gross | C – Jason Varitek |
| SS – Jason Bartlett | SS – Julio Lugo |
Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Rain Delay :(
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
weather looks bad. probably no game tonight.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
A cancellation might not be that bad of a thing, B.J. might be back tomorrow.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Also makes Wheeler available.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I suppose a rainout would also push Kid K to Tuesday at Toronto?
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
So far I wish they did cancel it.