Series Preview: Rays @ Sox

Tampa Bay Rays (35-22)
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: W3
LAST 10: 8-2
BA: .262 (5th in the AL)
RS: 257 (6)
HRs: 54 (5)
ERA: 3.65 (4)
RA: 228 (10)
SV: 17 (t5)

Season Series: 3-3

3 game series at Fenway Park
Game 1 Tuesday 705
Garza (4-1, 3.78) vs. Masterson (1-0, 1.46)
Game 2 Wednesday 705 ESPN
Jackson (3-4, 3.70) vs. Beckett (5-4, 4.30)
Game 3 Thursday 605
Shields (4-3, 3,24) vs. Lester (3-3, 3.67)

KEY RAYS:

-1B Carlos Pena .221/10HR/32RBI although the ex-Sox slugger is having a slow start to the season he has been popping the ball better of late, and you know he'd love nothing more than to get hot against his former/hometown team

-CF BJ Upton .305/3HR/32R/34BI/38BB/17SB the talented older Upton has found a home in center field and is tearing it up this season. He is currently 9th in the AL in average, 3rd in steals, 2nd in walks and 2nd in OBP (.410)

-3B Evan Longoria .241/7HR/28BI/22R/9 2B the rookie has struggled a bit with the bat since the Rays dicked him around and sent him back to the minors after his torrid spring, but he's a slick fielder and good hitter who has a flair for the dramatic -he's already got three game-winning hits this year.

PREVIEW:
This week's sign that the apocalypse is upon us - the Sox and Rays are about to wage a three game battle for first place in the AL East and we're already in the month of June!

You know what's even more fucked up about that statement? It's the upstart Rays that own the top spot, not the defending champs.

Bizarro baseball indeed!

But that's the situation we find ourselves in over 1/3rd of the way into the 2008 season, and it's up to the Sox in these next three games to set the situation straight.

Granted it won't be easy as the Rays are most definitely the hotter club, Boston is without David Ortiz and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and all Tampa Bay has to do is take one of the three games to remain in first place, but...

...that being said you have to like Boston's chances of winning all three games and regaining the lead in the East, if for no other reason than the Sox have been unbeatable at home the last few weeks.

The last time the Sox lost at Fenway was the day prior to the last Rays series, when Boston dropped a 3-0 decision to Toronto in the final matchup of a hard-fought three game set on May 1st.

Since then the road warriors have ripped off 11 in a row at home, when they weren't on grueling 10-game road trips, including three straight against these Rays May 2-4 when they outscored the NKOTB, 26-10.

Anyone for a repeat?

The main reason the Rays are where they are has been their pitching. Not only have the young starters stepped up and played well above their years, but the bullpen, which was an atrocious laughingstock last season (and every other for that matter), has been one of the best in the league.

And the Sox, which had one of the best bullpens in baseball last year, have lost quite a few games this year thanks to the pen men's inability to shut a team down and protect a lead (Monday's Okajima debacle immediately comes to mind).

To wit the Rays bullpen ERA (3.36) is 5th in the AL while the Sox sit at 10th (4.09) out of 14 clubs, and Boston's bully has allowed 27 more runs and 45 fewer hits than Tampa Bay's in just 2 2/3 more innings.

Ouch.

So obviously the key to this series will be keeping the game out of the bullpen's hands, which means the Sox starters will have to pitch deep into the games and the Boston batters will have to grab leads early.

No problem, right?

Not as long as Masterson pitches another gem, Beckett keeps the ball in the yard and pitches like he has been lately, and Colon continues his miraculous comeback and posts win # 4 on Thursday night.

If all that happens and Boston keeps hammering the ball at home then the Sox will regain first place when the series is over, and all will be right with the world.

But if the starters falter, the pen keeps sucking, and the hitters can't compensate for the loss of Ortiz, then it could be a lousy series at Fenway for a change.

What am I saying, they're gonna sweep these fucking pretenders!