Red Sox 07 Game 39

Update: Added Press Pass Link.
Update II: Rain out rescheduled for Thursday, May 17 at 12:35 p.m. ET
UPDATE III: fixed the links for previews and recaps caused by the rain out on 5/16

 Wednesday, May 16      Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET  

Mike Maroth, LHP (3-0, 4.69) Tigers (24-14) @ Julian Tavarez, RHP (1-4, 6.60) Red Sox (26-12)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	26	12	-	7-3	26	12
New York	17	19	8.0	5-5	20	16
Baltimore	18	22	9.0	4-6	19	21
Toronto	17	22	9.5	4-6	18	21
Tampa Bay	16	22	10.0	3-7	14	24

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.
MLB.com press pass is here.
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Tigers: Detroit is 7-0 this season in Maroth's starts, and it's not just because the team seems to score runs in bunches on those days. Maroth out pitched Johan Santana in his start on Friday at Minnesota, with 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, earning just his second career victory at the Metrodome. The only place where he has struggled more is Fenway Park, where he's 0-4 in four outings with an 8.02 ERA and six home runs allowed in 21 1/3 innings.

Red Sox: Tavarez took a big step back after hanging with Johan Santana in his previous start, allowing 10 hits and five runs in just five innings against the Orioles on Friday night. The Boston fifth starter was tagged with the loss, his fourth among just 11 total losses for the Sox. As the rest of the rotation continues to pitch among the best in baseball and Jon Lester continues his return from cancer, Tavarez will have to bounce back with a strong start if he plans to keep his rotation spot for the long term.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	11	4	1	0	0	1	0	1	.364
K. Youkilis	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
D. Ortiz	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.111
M. Ramirez	18	8	0	0	0	2	2	3	.444
J.D. Drew	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
M. Lowell	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
J. Varitek	16	10	1	1	3	6	4	1	.625
C. Crisp	25	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	.200
D. Pedroia	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Totals	84	28	2	1	3	9	8	14	.333

Actually a pretty good history vs Maroth. Not for sure if Drew will play. He hit the wall in right pretty hard last night so he may be really stiff before this game. Hinske is 4 for 17 with 4 RBI's and 6 k's against Maroth. Pena has never faced Maroth but lefty vs lefty might eliminate Hinske. Cora has also never faced Maroth.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Maroth	7	0	6	0	38 2/3	60	31	8	21	25	7.22
Tavarez	1	2	0	0	12 1/3	13	7	2	7	10	5.11

At Fenway Maroth's numbers are even worse. In four starts he is 0-4 in 21 1/3 IP, 35 hits, 19 Earned runs, 6 HR's, 9 BB, and 13 K's.

Julian has appeared in 9 games vs the Tigers. His only start was 6 years ago and he lasted 3 2/3 innings giving up 9 runs (3 earned). Not very good against this team. The question is which Tavarez will show up to pitch. The one who out dueled Santana and Halladay or the one who stunk up the place versus the Orioles and Texas.

Chow!