Tampa Bay vs Red Sox game 1 Preview

Casey Fossum tonight vs Clement, another left hander faces the Sox, another night that could be trouble. I always liked Fossum and thought the Sox should have kept him instead of trading him to the Diamondbacks.

Manny has faced Fossum 7 times with 2 hits and 4 k's, Tek is 1 for 3 against him, Lowell is 1 for 8, Gonzales is 2 for 6, Pena is 0 for 3, Mohr is 2 for 5, Cora is 2 for 10, Bard is 1 for 3 and Ortiz, Snow, Youkilis, Stern, Loretta have never faced him. As you can see there is not a lot of success against the lefty.

However as MLB.com has noted: "Clement's chances for getting back on track are good as he is 3-0 lifetime against the Devil Rays, with a 2.53 ERA. " (click the pic to read the whole scouting report from MLB.com).

Lets play ball!

Update: From today's MLB.com Press Pass (must be member of MLB.com) this following tidbit:

BIG INNINGS: Through 13 games in
2006, the Red Sox have allowed nearly half of their runs in only 7.0 separate
innings, as 27 of the club’s 55 runs allowed have crossed the plate in those
7.0 frames…Boston has allowed only 28 runs scored in its remaining 109.0
innings.

► The Red Sox have allowed one run in an inning 13 times and 2 or more 14
times, including 7.0 innings of 3 or more and 4.0 innings of 4 or more.

Player Stats VS Tampa Bay

PLAYER	AVG	AB	H	HR	RBI
BARD	.250	20	5	0	1
CORA	.286	35	10	1	9
GONZALEZ	.257	109	28	1	11
LORETTA	.417	12	5	0	1
LOWELL	.262	145	38	5	25
MOHR	.415	41	17	1	4
NIXON	.320	300	96	19	57
ORTIZ	.307	264	81	19	53
PENA	.357	14	5	2	5
RAMIREZ	.326	436	142	35	112
SNOW	---	0	0	0	0
STERN	.000	6	0	0	0
VARITEK	.302	288	87	12	46
YOUKILIS	.190	42	8	1	10