The Rays won the first game of a series yet again, so they try to go for the series win this afternoon against Adam Wainwright and the Cards. Garza has been outstanding in his career outdoors (8-3, 3.47 ERA), which should put him in position for another strong outing today. Garza has also logged a 2.19 ERA since returning from the disabled list. He will has his work cut out for him today as he must deal with a lineup that features the always dangerous Albert Pujols.
What to watch for: Every game, Matt Garza seems to be getting better and better. His fastball has been blistering, and he’s been able to use it almost exclusively to get hitters out. If he’s on again, it could be a long night for the Cardinals’ pitchers.
Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
Matt Garza – The right-hander is beginning to develop into the dominating pitcher the Rays had hoped for when they acquired Garza in an offseason trade with the Twins. He is coming off his best performance of the season — his first scoreless appearance in a season-high seven innings vs. the Yankees. Garza held New York sluggers Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui and Jason Giambi to a combined 0-for-7 in his 108-pitch effort, and will look for his third win of the season vs. the White Sox. Garza is 1-1 in three appearances vs. Chicago.
Adam Wainwright – Wainwright wasn’t sharp his last time out, but it had to happen at some point. Nobody goes through a flawless season. Being back home should suit the right-hander. He’s 3-0 at Busch Stadium with a 3.5 to 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and an average of 7.75 innings per start.
Check out the Rays’ career numbers against Adam Wainwright.
View the game preview from Baseball Reference.
| TAMPA BAY RAYS |
ST LOUIS CARDINALS |
| 2B – Akinori Iwamura | CF – Skip Schumaker |
| LF – Carl Crawford | 2B – Aaron Miles |
| CF – B.J. Upton | 1B – Albert Pujols |
| 1B – Carlos Pena | LF – Chris Duncan |
| 3B – Evan Longoria | 3B – Troy Glaus |
| C – Dioner Navarro | RF – Ryan Ludwick |
| RF – Gabe Gross | C – Yadier Molina |
| SS – Jason Bartlett | P – Adam Wainwright |
| P – Matt Garza | SS – Brendan Ryan |
Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!
May 17th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
This is some of the worst work on the bases that I have ever seen. And yet we’ve still managed to push across 8 runs so far.
May 17th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Need to go back and review baserunning 101 18 hits and loose. Should not have happened. This poor base running is happening to often.
May 17th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I never caught the game, but judging by the boxscore, Garza was anything but marvelous.
Did he use any other pitches than his fastball???
May 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Mark,
I haven’t seen a pitch breakdown, but I thought Garza threw his other pitches much more in this start. Judging by the results, I am not so sure that is a good thing. I honestly thought he had good stuff for most of the start, but was a bit unlucky. Of course, he got rattled the 6th inning and lost his command. So are the breaks with a young pitcher from time-to-time.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Hey Jon,
Thanks for the update. Sometimes a box score doesn’t tell the entire story of the game.
As good as his fastball can be, I still think he needs to utilize a few more pitches (curve, change-up) in order to be successful in the long run.
I also just read this response from Maddon after the game; “Overall, he didn’t throw the ball poorly – he was around the strike zone,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I just thought they did a nice job of hitting today.”
Sounds similar to your evaluation of Garza. Just wasn’t getting the breaks, I guess. Hopefully he can have better luck next time out!