Very quietly, the Blue Jays have gotten themselves back into this AL East race. They are now just 8 1/2 games behind the Rays, which – if you’ll remember – is closer than the Yankees were just a few weeks ago. They are a dangerous team with a ton of pitching, so it’s important for the Rays to take two out of three here and slow the Jays’ momentum.
What to watch for: Isn’t it always the offense? The Rays really need to start scoring some runs soon. Maybe tonight? Although A.J. Burnett’s probably not the guy you want to try to bust out of a slump against.
Scouting Report on today’s starters from MLB.com:
James Shields – Shields earned his ninth win of the season on July 23 when he held the A’s to three earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. He will be making his 10th road start of the season and has struggled away from Tropicana Field. He is 2-5 with a 6.26 ERA in nine road starts. The 26-year-old right-hander’s best pitch has always been his changeup, but he also has a plus fastball and curve and he’s added a cutter that has helped him throw inside to left-handers. He is 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in five career starts against the Blue Jays.
A.J. Burnett – Burnett pitched well enough to win his last start — a rain-shortened affair in Baltimore. The Toronto right-hander tossed five innings before the rain began to pour, resulting in a suspension of Wednesday’s game. When play resumed the next day, Burnett was awarded the victory, having been the pitcher of record. He allowed one run on six hits, striking out seven and walking none. The starter has been at the forefront of much trade speculation of late. These rumors have not affected his performance though, as the hard-throwing righty is 2-1 with a 1.77 ERA in his last three starts.
Check out the Rays’ career numbers against AJ Burnett.
View the game preview from Baseball Reference.
| TAMPA BAY RAYS |
TORONTO BLUE JAYS |
| 2B – Akinori Iwamura | 2B – Joe Inglett |
| CF – B.J. Upton | SS – Marco Scutaro |
| LF – Carl Crawford | CF – Alex Rios |
| 3B – Evan Longoria | 1B – Lyle Overbay |
| 1B – Carlos Pena | C – Rod Barajas |
| DH – Cliff Floyd | DH – Matt Stairs |
| C – Dioner Navarro | 3B – Scott Rolen |
| RF – Eric Hinske | LF – Adam Lind |
| SS – Jason Bartlett | RF – Brad Wilkerson |
Be sure to join us in the chat room for some good Rays talk during the game!!!
Tags: Blue Jays
July 28th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Crawford only has nine doubles so far this season. Whaazup CC?
July 28th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Let’s hope tonight the bats come to life. If the bats that are here come to life we don’t need to go get anyone and we know these guys can hit, I don’t think last season was a fluke.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
We keep talking about how the Rays need to add another bat to the lineup, but the ones we’re not replacing aren’t getting the job done either. Evan strikes out with the bases loaded? Pena grounds out to first? We could bring in Ted Williams and it won’t fix the problems with the team right now.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Scott you are right. At this time would take 9 bats. Bases loaded twice and only 1 run.