Boston Red Sox v. Tampa Bay Rays
Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
The Red Sox (57-27) finished up the inter-league play (13-5 v. NL) portion of their schedule with a pair of three game sweeps of Arizona and Houston and now head back to the American League East for a stretch of six games that begins with Boston's second trip to Tampa Bay to face the Rays (39-46). The Red Sox are 5-4 against the Rays this season, including 2-1 at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay is currently in 4th place in the American League East, trailing the Sox by 17 games. What Tampa's record doesn't show is the fact that the Rays rank 5th in the AL in runs scored (394) and 7th in runs allowed (383). Tampa Bay's pitching staff is anchored by lefty Scott Kazmir (5-3, 2.63), who has been spectcular this season when the Rays can get him on the mound. The veteran of the staff, Kazmir has missed three weeks already this season with back and should injuries. In addition to Kazmir, the Rays have also been without prized rookie David Price who is out with a sore arm. The Rays carry a young balanced line up, led from the top by Carl Crawford (.351 avg./.407/.495) and in the middle by sluggers BJ Upton (.270, 7 HRs, 35 RBIs) and Carlos Pena (.282, 15 HRs, 61 RBIs).
Boston comes into the series led by the return of Coco Crisp, who missed the entire Houston series with concussion-like symptoms. Hopefully, the Sox can regain some of their scoring touch with Crisp back atop the lineup. In his three game absence, the Sox managed just 10 runs against the Astros. Of course, this is a symptom of greater Sox problems as their offense is down over a run a game (5.38 v. 4.20) this month compared to May while their pitching (3.66 v. 4.36) is surrendering almost one more run per game.
Pitching Matchups:
6/30: Jon Lester (9-3, 3.94 ERA) v. Edwin Jackson (4-7, 3.80)
7/1: Clay Buchholz (7-3, 4.57) v. Scott Kazmir (5-3, 2.63)
7/2: Josh Beckett (6-4, 4.05) v. Matt Garza (8-5, 3.88)