The first pitch in tonight’s highly anticipated game is less than two hours away. Following the eighth inning events last night, a certain level of nervous anticipation is in the air. Will the Rays reciprocate in tonight’s series closer against the Sox? Could the events of last night, along with Gonzo’s errant comments regarding a poorly called game at the plate, be a catalyst for Matt Moore who’s struggled so far in 2012? Hell, last night found Fernando Rodney on the mound with a resolve to tear the heads off of the four batters he faced, throwing only 13 pitches (11 for strikes) to close out the game.It would be beautiful to see young Matt do the same!
I don’t think Matt Moore will seek to lay one into any batters tonight. And at 1-3, with a 5.31 ERA, I’d imagine that Moore would rather go out there, avoid any distractions, and try to do what he is capable of doing: dominate. Moore is coming off two consecutive sub-five inning appearances that resulted in a loss. In those two starts he’s given up a combined nine earned runs on 11 hits. This isn’t the Moore we saw at the end of last season when he was called up, nor is it indicative of how he’ll pitch for the rest of the season. He needs to go out there and have a good outing, and start to rebuild his confidence. Let’s hope that Moore can do, consistently, what he did in the first two innings of his last start: locate his pitches.
To be honest, I’d foresee any retribution coming on the base-paths, if at all. Perhaps a few hard slides into second base could be in order? Let’s not forget the “unintentional” plunking of That Giant Injured Ogre following his Incredible Hulk like stomping of the ankle of then first-baseman Casey Kotchman, the previous night. Then again, Price was on the mound in that game, not Matt Moore. No, we’ve all seen Sean Rodriguez slide very hard into second as a means to break up a double play. I’d think it would be reasonable to expect the Rays take out any pent-up frustration on the shins of the Sox infielders by going into the bags hard.
On the mound for the Red Sox is Felix Doubront (3-1, 4.46 ERA). The Rays are hitting .359 in 39 career at bats against Doubront, including two home runs by Luke Scott. Tampa Bay roughed Doubront up in their last meeting, scoring four runs on nine hits, knocking him out of the game in the fifth.
Primarily a fastball pitcher, Doubront also leans on his off-speed stuff quite a bit. Yet, he has had a problem with locating his fastball against the Rays over the course of his career, with only 34% of his fastball’s finding the zone. More so, he’s had a much harder time finding the zone with his off-speed stuff. If there’s any pitcher in the Sox starting rotation that the Rays can fully take advantage of, it’s Doubront. And there’s no better time to do so, than tonight.
Though 0-12 last night with runners in scoring position, the Rays beat up the Sox by reaching base 12 times on nine hits, three walks, and one hit batter, eventually knocking Buckholz out of the game after only 87 pitches. It will be imperative that the Rays can get that many men on the bags (cough, if not more) tonight with a struggling Matt Moore on the mound. What’s more, they’ll need to get ’em on, get ’em over, and get ’em home. Say what you will about the Red Sox, but even with 12 men on the DL, they can still pose a sizeable threat offensively if given the opportunity. The trick for the Rays will be to squash any offensive threat while grinding away at a taxed, and sub-par, Red Sox pitching staff.
Maddon made an interesting move by giving Matt Joyce the night off, and starting the newly acquired Rich Thompson in left-field. I’d imagine that Joyce would be available off of the bench at some point.
Tampa Bay Rays (24-14):
Zobrist RF
Upton CF
Scott DH
Keppinger 2B
Pena 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Johnson SS
Gimenez C
Thompson LF
Moore LHP
Of note: There was a nice piece on 33 year-old rookie Rich Thompson on the Fangraphs site today. You can view it here. Also, could Longoria’s return be even sooner than we’re led to believe? We heard yesterday that Longo took batting practice, and it was noted in a series of tweets (below) by Marc Topkin, that Longoria was on the field today getting a little fielding practice in under his belt.
