The Rays won five of six last week, returned to full strength with Kazmir, Bartlett, Burrell, Bradford, and Shouse getting off of the DL. They look to continue their hot streaks when they head north to face Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays.
It will be Halladay's first start since coming off the of the DL, but I would not suspect to to see any weakness from front-runner for the Cy Young. He faces a rookie, Jeff Niemann, who has pitched well of late but is still a rookie. This series in general is filled with great pitching matchups as Matt Garza takes on Scott Richmond and James Shields goes against up and coming pitcher Ricky Romero.
Halladay has practically been untouchable this year with a 10-1 record and a 2.53 ERA. The two outings before he got hurt in the Florida game were both complete games. Scary. Not to mention he has only allowed 14 runs in his last nine starts. His ERA is much higher at home, a 3.00 vs. only a 1.88 on the road. Niemann on the other hand has been just as hot: The Rays have won eight of his last nine starts.
Matt Garza had perhaps his best start of the year last week, going eight innings allowing only one run against a potent Phillies lineup. He looks to be on track, so I expect a good game from him.
Richmond, on the other hand, seems to be cooling off a bit. Since his spectacular April, his ERA has been above four. However he has had two good starts with a bad start against the Nationals in which he got rained on.
Perhaps the best pitching matchup of the series is Romero and Shields. Romero has been inconsistent this year, but recently has been on fire. He has pitched at least seven innings in four of his last five starts, with the Jays winning also winning four out of five (the loss was to Texas 1-0). Shields has been Mr. Consistent, as he has just been solid all year round. He has gone six innings in all but two of his starts.
I see the Rays winning two of these games. Last year Matt Garza, beat Halladay twice, and the Rays have a knack for beating good pitching (Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia, Josh Johnson). This is because the Rays lead the MLB in opposing pitches per innings, always working the opposing pitchers.
Garza is starting to pitch better, and I look for this to continue, as well as Shields to be solid. The first two games will most likely be a split so it will come down to the best game of the series to decide it.
B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford, and Evan Longoria all hit above .400 for the Rays last week, as Ben Zobrist cooled off a little. Look for the one-two-three hitters in the Rays lineup to keep it up, as they show no signs of slowing down. Also the Rays became the fastest team to get 100 home runs and 100 steals in a season.
As for the Rangers series, this could very easily be a sweep. The pitching matchups favor the Rays greatly, Kazmir vs. Holland, Price vs. Hunter, and Niemann vs. Padilla. The Rangers might win the last one, but are always capable of going off at any time.
They could jump on Price early as well. Hopefully, he can build off his last start. I don't care if he walks five guys as long as we get the W.
This could be a good week for the Rays, I see them going 4-2, earning a 2-1 series win in each. If this holds true they could gain some ground on the Yankees and Red Sox, putting themselves in excellent shape before the All-Star game.
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