MLB 07 - Game 4

Update: Wakefield's day is over, he goes 6 innings and gives up only 2 runs (1 earned) on an excuse me single by Sosa and a Laird single (if Manny had thrown the ball on the fly to Mirabelli would have been an out). This was a good start by Wakefield and is the 2nd quality start in a row by the Sox. This also lowers Wakefields ERA to 5.31 in starts in Texas.

Wakefield Vs Tejeda - Rangers home opener

Boston 1/2 game ahead of the Yankees and Toronto. Opener of the series.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com - Scouting Report:

Red Sox: The veteran knuckleballer looks forward to bouncing back after an injury-riddled 2006. This is Wakefield's 13th season with the Red Sox. Wakefield's 1,570 strikeouts with the Red Sox rank him third on the team's all-time list, trailing only Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. Wakefield will try to improve his history in Texas, where he is 4-10 lifetime with a 5.95 ERA. Last year against the Rangers, Wakefield was 0-1 with a 7.59 ERA..

Royals: Tejeda had the lowest ERA of any Rangers starter with at least 14 starts. He was 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA in his last nine starts. He made three starts against the Angels last year and was 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA. He was 5-2 with a 3.10 ERA in nine road starts. He was the Rangers Player of the Month for September, the only time that a pitcher won the award in 2006.


So lets look at the numbers of our projected starting 9 versus Tejada.

NOBODY HAS FACED HIM - this is bad, very bad, the Sox as a rule suck against someone they have never faced. As we go along you will see why I think this could be a disaster.

Wakefield vs the Rangers Overall

GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR's	BB	K's	ERA
21	7	13	0	134 2/3	154	91	24	53	109	6.08

Those are his overall numbers, lets look at his numbers as a starter:
Wakefield vs the Rangers Starts

GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR's	BB	K's	ERA
21	7	11	0	125 1/3	146	85	24	49	101	6.10

Horrible, just horrible, is there any hope? Lets just look at his numbers as a starter in Texas:
Wakefield at the Rangers

GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR's	BB	K's	ERA
12	4	8	0	73 2/3	77	46	9	30	54	5.62

Strangely in some cases these are better than his numbers at Fenway:
Wakefield Fenway vs Rangers

GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR's	BB	K's	ERA
9	3	3	0	51 2/3	69	39	15	19	47	6.79

His ERA in Texas is over a run less and his WHIP is .25 better. Unfortunately, that is the only two things better and they are just horrible.

So what do I expect to see? The boys had better get the bats moving or it will be a long, long, long day for the Sox and their faithful. Oh, thats right, the boys usually suck against someone they have never seen before (banging head against desk).
If the Sox win I will be pleasantly surprised.

UPDATE: No new pass for this game. Link is fixed to take you to latest press pass. If there is a press pass it will be found here.