MLB 07 - Game 5

Julian Tavarez, RHP (0-0, -.--) Red Sox (2-1) @ Kevin Millwood, RHP (0-1, 5.40) Rangers (0-3)

Rangers lead series 1 -0.

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

Red Sox (2-2) trail Tampa Bay (yes Tamapa Bay) 1/2 game. Lead Toronto and NYY by 1/2 game

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: Tavarez excelled last September when he moved into the starting rotation, going 3-0 with a 4.01 ERA. Of Tavarez's 700 career appearances, 85 have been starts. Tavarez pitched a complete-game victory over the Blue Jays on Sept. 22, leading the Red Sox to a 7-1 win. Tavarez is 2-3 with a 5.86 ERA against the Rangers in 19 career appearances.

Rangers: The Rangers are skipping their fifth starter because of off-days so Millwood and the others can pitch on their normal five days' rest. Millwood is 3-3 with a 4.12 ERA in nine career starts against the Red Sox. He was 7-7 with a 5.38 ERA at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington last year but was 4-3 with a 3.91 ERA in his final seven starts. Five of those seven were quality starts.

Expected Batters vs Starting pitcher.

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	12	3	0	0	0	0	3	1	.250
K. Youkilis	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	.250
D. Ortiz	9	5	0	0	3	7	2	0	.556
M Ramirez	14	4	0	0	1	1	0	5	.286
J.D. Drew	18	5	1	0	1	5	4	5	.278
M Lowell	49	14	4	1	1	10	6	8	.286
J Varitek	18	7	2	0	0	3	2	3	.389
C Crisp	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
D Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	130	39	8	1	6	26	18	25	.300

Pretty good Avg by Varitek and Ortiz who both hit Millwood well. Maybe he is the pitcher to get them going this season. At least we can always hope.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Tavarez	1	3	2	0	35 1/3	40	23	6	14	19	5.86
Millwood	9	3	3	0	54 2/3	49	25	7	16	39	4.12

Tavarez hasn't pitched well against the Rangers in the past. Lets hope that being a starter will change his history.