Game 65: Boston Red Sox (39-25) AT Tampa Bay Rays (34-28)

Game 1 of 6 on Road trip (0-0)
Game 7 of 19 Vs Rays (5-1)
Game 30 of 81 on the Road (18-11)

Well, here we are. 64 games into the season and the Red Sox are in first place. The good times are rolling at Fenway again and there's excitement in the air for the first time in a long time. The Red Sox are 5-2 so far in June and are hitting a jaw dropping .343 in those seven games as a team. Starting tonight, they open up ten straight games against division foes, so I thought this would be a good time to begin daily coverage of the Red Sox. So starting tonight, i will try to do previews and recaps of every Sox game. 98 games to go, can the Sox win just their second division title in my lifetime? Im still not convinced this will happen, but Im really starting to think a playoff berth is a likelihood for this team.

Tonight the Red Sox open up a three game series against the Rays at Tropicana Field. The Rays come into this game four games behind the Red Sox in the standings. As hot as the bats have been lately for the Sox, the bats have been ice cold against the Rays so far this season. In six games against the Rays Boston bats are hitting just .190 against Tampa. Despite this, the Red Sox have a 5-1 record against the Rays this year. This is the third of six series this year against the Rays and second of three at Tropicana Field.

The Pitching match up tonight is John Lackey vs Alex Cobb. Lackey, in the fourth year of his contract, has finally put together a decent season. He has just a 3-5 record, but has posted an impressive 2.79 ERA. He will face Alex Cobb who has a 6-2 record with a 2.39 ERA. He is 2-0 in his last three starts with a 1.21 ERA while Lackey is 1-1 in his last three starts with a 1.89 ERA. So we could have a pitchers duel tonight.

One thing that has been drastically different between this years Rays and last years Rays is offensive improvement. Last year the Rays finished 18th in runs scored and 27th in team batting average with a .240 average. This year they are 6th in runs scored and 9th in team average with a .260 average. this s puzzling because the lineup is basically the same as last years.

Now lets take a look at tonight lineups

Boston Red Sox
1. Ellsbury .279
2. Victorino: .280
3. Pedroia: .333
4. Ortiz: .322
5. Nava: .299
6. Carp: .318
7. Saltalamacchia: .273
8. Middlebrooks: .201
9. Drew: .234

Tampa Bar Rays
1. Joyce: .253
2. Zobrist: .260
3. Johnson: .260
4. Longoria: .306
5. Loney: .325
6. Scott: .230
7. Jennings: .246
8. Lobaton: .294
9. Escobar: .250

Whos hot for the Sox heading into this series: Jacoby Ellsbury continues to be red hot. Since his batting average bottomed out at .243 he is 16 for his last 32 for a .500 average over the past two weeks. Ortiz is also red hot with four home runs in the last seven games.Whos not? Mike Napoli, who went 3 for 21 on the homestand, and is getting the day off today to get a rest and hopefully break out of that slump.

Pitcher of the week: Every Monday we'll look at a pitcher of the week who had a great week pitching for the Sox. Junichi Tazawa is that pitcher this week, throwing three scoreless innings over the course of the week, and picking up the win on Thursday.

Now a look at the AL East standings heading into tonight's game
1. Boston Red Sox: 39-25
2. New York Yankees: 37-26   1.5 GB
3. Baltimore Orioles: 35-28      3.5 GB
4. Tampa Bay Rays: 34-28       4.0 GB
5. Toronto Blue Jays: 27-35     11.0 GB