Red Sox 07 Game 92

			@
B. Bannister		5-5, 3.71		K. Gabbard		2-0, 4.87
Blue Jays		39-52		Red Sox		55-36

Mondy, July 16    Fenway Park | 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	55	36	-	5-5	55	36
New York	45	44	9.0	7-3	51	38
Toronto	45	46	10.0	6-4	46	45
Baltimore	41	50	14.0	5-5	45	46
Tampa	35	56	20.0	2-8	34	57

ESPN.Com Preview .
Yahoo's Preview .
ESPN.Com after the game Recap.
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Royals: After reeling off a 5-1 record and being named AL Rookie of the Month in June, Bannister ran into a first-inning firecracker on the Fourth of July, when the Mariners jumped on him for four runs. But Bannister, an intelligent pitcher, quickly made adjustments and followed that with six shutout innings. He'll make this start after an 11-day rest period so it'll be interesting to see if he shows signs of rust. Bannister has never pitched at foreboding Fenway Park, either.

Red Sox: Though he didn't get a decision in his last start, Gabbard was on his game against Detroit on July 7. He allowed two runs and only three hits in 6 1/3 innings in Boston's 13-inning loss. His command of his fastball was much improved from his previous starts, so he was able to use the pitch effectively to set up his breaking pitches. It was Gabbard's fourth start of the season, and third since being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket on June 26.

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

Sox Batting vs Bannister

Nobody on the Sox has faced Bannister except for J.D. Drew who is 1 for 2. Like yesterday, that is not a good sign.

Pitching Comparisions (neither pitcher has faced each team so last 5 starts)

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Bannister	5	3	2	0	31 1/3	33	15	2	12	21	4.31	1.44	6.27
Gabbard	5	2	0	0	25	23	11	2	17	19	3.96	1.60	5.00

Looking at their last five starts this appears to be a pretty even matchup. Gabbard has the edge in ERA and Bannister has the edge in WHIP and IP/GS.

This will be Gabbards third start at Fenway this year. In his previous Fenway starts on 5/20 and 7/2. The lack of being able to go six innings have kept him from getting a quality start. He needs to start getting to the seventh inning if he really wants to help this club. Today just might be that day.

Chow!