Red Sox @ D-Rays, July 27,28,29

[Boston's Future]

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

there's a venue Tim Wakefield loves pitching in as much as Fenway Park, it would have to be Tropicana Field, where the veteran knuckleballer will open a three-game series for the Red Sox on Friday night.
Wakefield, who is 7-0 with a 2.39 ERA in 17 games at the Trop, has always loved pitching indoors.

The Devil Rays are in a tailspin, having lost six in a row.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, come to town on a bit of a roll. Manager Terry Francona's crew has won six of its last seven games. The seven-game road trip started in auspicious fashion, with Boston taking three out of four from a solid Indians team.


Pitching matchup

BOS: RHP Tim Wakefield (11-9, 4.74 ERA)
Wakefield pitched well enough against the White Sox on Sunday -- yielding four earned runs in 6 1/3 innings -- to earn his 11th win and 20th decision in 20 starts. The right-hander also faced, for 1 2/3 innings, Chicago's Charlie Haeger, the Majors' only other knuckleball pitcher. It was the first time Wakefield had taken the mound against a fellow knuckleballer since 2002, when he faced Detroit's Steve Sparks.

TB: RHP Jason Hammel (1-0, 5.82 ERA)
Hammel made a spot start on Saturday against the Yankees and pitched well, allowing two runs in four innings. He would have gone farther, but he had been pitching in relief and was not "stretched out" enough. Hammel possesses a nice variety of pitches and will be given a strong opportunity to show he belongs in the rotation. He is 0-1 with a 10.50 ERA in three appearances against the Red Sox.

Player to watch
Devil Rays outfielder Carl Crawford is a .344 hitter in 64 at-bats against Wakefield, including two homers.

[Boston's Future]

We need to take advantage of these crappy teams that we are playing and start to pull away from the Yankees. They bombed the D-Ray's, now its our turn.

[2004RedSox]

We need to take advantage of these crappy teams that we are playing and start to pull away from the Yankees. They bombed the D-Ray's, now its our turn.

Couldn't agree with ya more. I think they should do fine w/the D-Ray's though. But point well made, we really need to take advantage of these crappy-a** teams and get the win percentage a little higher than it currently is.

[Dirty Water]

Started off just about as solid as you want with another usual great performance by Wake at the Trop. Hopefully Lester and Dice-K can shut the door on this series.

An interesting tidbit in the Globe yesterday. Cora said this series was among the most important of the year. He said that many peopel contribute the collapse of the 2006 Red Sox on the five game sweep to the Yankees. However, He believes the real blow was losing 2 of 3 to Tampa and getting swept by Kansas City which really put the nail in the coffin before that series.
We really need to beat up on Tampa here. I'd consider taking 2 of 3 a disappointment.

I don't knwo what to expect out of Lester in his second start, but I feel like he might regress a little, even if it is the D-rays. Hopefully we don't see a second start jinx like we usually do with these young pitchers.

[Boston's Future]

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

This time, Jon Lester can just focus on pitching. Lester's return to Major League Baseball on Monday at Cleveland was an emotional culmination of his battle back from cancer.
When Lester takes the ball Saturday night against the Devil Rays, it will be more of a normal environment and his focus will simply be on turning in a strong performance at Tropicana Field.

And despite all those emotions that ran through him at Jacobs Field, Lester still turned in a quality performance en route to a 6-2 victory.

He'll be opposed by a another promising young pitcher in Tampa Bay right-hander James Shields, who is 8-6 with a 4.44 ERA.


Pitching matchup

BOS: LHP Jon Lester (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Lester made a successful comeback start to the Major Leagues on Monday in Cleveland, giving up five hits and two runs over six innings while fanning six. Lester made 17 starts in the Minor Leagues this season, going 4-5 with a 3.61 ERA. This is Lester's first career start against the Devil Rays

TB: RHP James Shields (8-6, 4.44 ERA)
Shields experienced the worst outing of his career onb Sunday afternoon against the Yankees, allowing 10 runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings to take his sixth loss. Shields has been the Rays' best pitcher all season, effectively using a fastball, changeup, curve and cutter to retire hitters. The changeup remains his best pitch. He is 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA in two starts against the Red Sox.


Player to watch
Sox slugger David Ortiz has two homers in five career at-bats against Shields.

[Boston's Future]

It was crap that Papelbon blew the game, but w/e, it is bound to happen in a season from time to time. Lester looked mediocre. Thank god for that offensive explosion in the 12th.

[Boston's Future]

By Dawn Klemish / MLB.com

There's a lot of things going well lately for the Red Sox, victorious in eight of their past 10 games and owners of the best record in baseball. And when Boston takes the field Sunday, it'll aim for its fourth straight win and a series sweep over the Devil Rays, who haven't topped the Red Sox since Sept. 27, 2006.
To give them their best shot at doing so, they'll send rookie phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka to the hill. Dice-K struggled for three straight starts before his most recent outing, compiling a 1-2 record and 7.31 ERA over the three poor starts. Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell pointed to a short downturn in arm strength as reason for the off performances and said a bit of rest cured most of the symptoms.

"I think just the other night, [Matsuzaka] had much, much better fastball command," Farrell said. "He was much improved a few nights ago than he'd been during his prior few starts."

Despite the minor hitch, the 26-year-old remains first in wins among Major League rookies. Though adjusting to American professional baseball often takes a bit of time, Farrell isn't, and wasn't, surprised the Japanese righty hasn't faltered.

"The success that he had [in Japan], combined with the talents that he possesses, makes him a pretty special individual," Farrell said. "What we've come to find over the first half of the season is an undeniable, competitive spirit, a tremendous teammate and someone who really cares.

"I think the success he's had is just a byproduct of all of those elements."

The Rays will give lefty Scott Kazmir the ball to oppose Matsuzaka. At 23, Kazmir's already got a fairly impressive portfolio as well. The southpaw fireballer has battled high pitch counts throughout this season as a result of tweaks to his delivery, but seems on the upswing of the setback.

The two starters have faced off once this season, Dice-K emerging with a win after he held the Rays scoreless through eight innings in the 4-1 victory.

Pitching matchup

BOS: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (12-7, 3.79 ERA)
Last time out, Dice-K snapped a three-start slump by firing seven scoreless innings against the Indians and limiting Cleveland to four hits while fanning five. So far, he's held left-handed opponents to .208 hitting in his 21-game career.

TB: LHP Scott Kazmir (7-7, 4.02 ERA)
Is on a hot streak over his past two games in which he's defeated Cy Young winners Roger Clemens (Yankees) and Bartolo Colon (Angels) in conseutive outings. During that 13-inning span, he's allowed just one earned run, seven hits and five walks, while fanning 13.

[Boston's Future]

Kazmir pitched great, and once again the Sox couldn't give Dice-K any run support