White Sox vs. Rays Game 1 preview
The Tampa Bay Rays host the franchise’s first-ever playoff game at sold out Tropicana Field on Thursday afternoon when the surprising AL East champs face the AL Central champion White Sox.
Tampa Bay is a big -186 favorite on WagerWeb.com for Game 1 and -175 betting pick for the series on WagerWeb.com.
Certainly the Rays are well-rested, having finished their season Sunday, while the White Sox became the first team in MLB history to beat three different teams in three different days to end the season. Chicago’s pitching was stretched thin the final week, but it beat Cleveland, Detroit and then Minnesota on Tuesday night in a one-game playoff to earn the AL Central title. All those games were at U.S. Cellular Field, where the White Sox are a different club.
Tampa Bay won five of the final six meetings in the regular season, winning the last three of a four-game series at Tropicana Field from May 29 to June 1 and the first two of a three-game set at Chicago in August.
The White Sox start Javier Vazquez on full rest in Game 1. Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen continues to profess faith in his inconsistent starter. Vazquez (12-16, 4.67) was 5-4 with a 3.43 ERA at the end of May but faded after that point, going 7-12 with a 5.41 ERA over his final 21 starts.
He has been terrible in his past three outings, losing all three with a 13.50 ERA, never lasting through the fifth (all three starts on short rest). That prompted Guillen to question whether Vazquez was a big-game pitcher, yet here he is starting Game 1. Vazquez is 5-4 with a 4.36 ERA in 12 career starts vs. Tampa Bay, and 1-2 with a 3.54 ERA in three starts this season.
One of his nemeses will be in the lineup today. Rays outfielder Carl Crawford was thought likely to miss the Division Series while recovering from hand surgery, but he should start tonight – although he will likely bat farther down the order than his typical No. 2 spot. Crawford is 11-for-26 (.423) with three doubles and two triples against Vazquez, and his speed will put pressure on White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who threw out just 11 of 107 would-be base stealers this year. Crawford had 25 of Tampa Bay’s major league-best 142 stolen bases.
Tampa Bay, which was 57-24 at home this year, starts James Shields in Game 1. Shields (14-8, 3.56 ERA) went 10-3 with a 3.30 ERA in his final 19 starts and was great at the Trop, going 9-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 outings.
Shields is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in two career starts against the White Sox, and he will need to pitch around White Sox DH Jim Thome, who had the winning home run in the one-game playoff with the Twins. Thome is 3-for-9 with a homer against Shields in his career and hit three of Chicago’s 12 homers against the Rays this year. He has 15 homers, 40 RBIs and a .325 batting average in 57 career games vs. Tampa Bay.
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