Bos/Tam thought

[Hailmary]

A couple things stand out to me. BoSox vs. righties are averaging .276 while Tampa is avg .250. OBP for Sox is .342 and Tampas is .309. These are not large advantages but slug % for Boston is .435 and Tam .370. These #'s arent great and probably back your theory of taking a shot on Tampa along with the fact that Unp Marquez is 15-5 adv. Home Team. All that said I think it may start out close and then we move on to the bullpens. (Available) Boston WHIP of 1.24 and ERA of 3.73 and Tampa WHIP of 1.69 and ERA of 5.83. The thing that gets me is BoSox bullpen has been off lately and I think they will snap back to form starting in this series. Haney is the only one not available for Boston tonight. Tampa on the other hand is without Kent, Harper, and Phelps tonight. This leaves them with Creek, Colome and Yan. Yan has been very lucky lately IMO. I took them alot at the begging of the season only to lose the lead late in the game when Estaban would step up to the mound. The Sox have one lefty in the BP (Embree) and the rest righties. Tampa's Batting ave. drops to a .213 vs. lefties and OBP drops to a .273. This means that Boston has a weapon at their disposal late in the game. Tampa has 2 righties and one terrible lefty in their BP. The difference is that Boston's batting avg. raises to a .284 vs. leftys and OPB raises to a .352. That said, Tampa will try to stay away from putting Creek on the mound. Their best BP pitcher is YAN
Just trying to add a little info. where I can. Personally I don't see alot of value in Tampa at a small +$. Iwill gamble with the BoSox yet again.
GL & PEACE, HAIL

Alot of these games have come down to the BP and I hope this one does too.

 

[cooz3]

just a heads up...Embree is hurt (elbow, may be back for yanks series..) and is attending a funeral...cooz

 

[Terryray]

Sturtze has pitched the distance in his last two starts (Seattle and Anaheim) and 8 innings before that (TX). So the TB bullpen might not get much work today. Sturtze is 1-1 with 1.93 era in his home starts vs Boston last 3 seasons.

the HP ump has been very kind to Sturtze and TB in the past.

Just wonder which Castillo will show up today...



Boston has been beating up on TB all season long, and there is this from the paper:


By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

? St. Petersburg Times
published July 18, 2002



ST. PETERSBURG -- It was a rare night Wednesday at Tropicana Field because there was a decent crowd and most of the fans went home happy.

That's because most of the 15,672 fans, or at least the vocal majority, rooted for the Red Sox, who cruised to a 6-1 victory behind another stellar outing by Derek Lowe.......

...."It has to have some effect," Rays manager Hal McRae said. "I don't think the players feel that they can't beat them. And that's a feeling that you can't come to the ballpark with, a feeling that you don't have a chance to win that night's game. But it has to have some effect when you continue to lose to the same team...


.....Boston's success delighted the bulk of the crowd, dazing a few of the Rays along the way.

"It seems a little weird, but we've seen it before," Rays rightfielder Ben Grieve said. "They're a more popular team than us. I'm pretty sure there's more Red Sox fans than Devil Rays fans."

"It just shows you the power of the Red Sox Nation," Boston's Trot Nixon said.

"They're everywhere, kind of like Yankees fans. It might be kind of a bummer for the home team, but I can't explain it."




good luck on your pics!!

 

[Hailmary]

Thanks Cooz, I didn't know that. Covers didn't have him listed on the injury list. I still think they are alright with the rest of the field of righties available. They have owned the Rays this year also (7-0) and look like they may start getting the bats working again. I am really betting on the Tampa BP to explode like I know they are capable of doing. I took them for 1 unit.
GL & PEACE, HAIL

 

[Hailmary]

Good 5th inning for Boston. 2 runs and got alot of pitches out of Sturtze. He now has over 90 pitches on that arm. Hope they wear him out in the 6th and bring in the Tampa BP
GL & PEACE, HAIL

 

[Hailmary]

Well, as expected their closer YAN has entered in the 8th. Now lets hope he snaps back to (shit) form