Red Sox 2008 Game 55 Preview

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D. Matsuzaka		9-0, 2.40		M. Batista		3-6, 6.47
Red Sox		32 - 22		Mariners		18 - 34

Tuesday, May 27                 Safeco Field  ✠ 10:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	31	20	-	7-3	7	7	29	22
Boston	32	22	.5	7-3	9	6	30	24
Toronto	28	25	4.0	7-3	8	10	28	25
Baltimore	25	25	5.5	4-6	11	8	24	26
New York	25	26	6.0	5-5	7	5	25	26

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

Red Sox: Matsuzaka struggled mightily in earning his eighth win of the season May 22 against Kansas City. The righty went 5 2/3 innings, scattering six hits for three earned runs while surrendering six walks and two wild pitches. Still, Matsuzaka pitched out of jams when necessary and earned the victory in an 11-3 win. His eight wins lead the American League. Matsuzaka will get the nod against Seattle having gone 1-1 with a 4.33 ERA against the Mariners in his career. His lone win against the Mariners came at Safeco Field.

Mariners: The first-inning blues that have haunted Batista this month were somewhat solved in his last outing as he held the Tigers to one run. But a three-run second inning, and another run in the third, sent the veteran right-hander to another early shower, the third time in his past six starts that he never made it to the fourth inning. He has used a short-arm technique since tossing 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the Angels on April 20 and it might be time to scrap it and go back to his old style.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Batista

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Ortiz	17	6	2	0	2	7	6	1	.353	.522	.824	1.345
M. Ramirez	22	9	2	0	2	6	2	4	.409	.440	.773	1.213
M. Lowell	19	5	2	0	1	3	2	5	.263	.391	.526	.918
K. Youkilis	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.200	.000	.200
J. D. Drew	24	6	3	0	1	3	5	2	.250	.379	.500	.879
J. Varitek	14	4	0	0	0	2	3	4	.286	.412	.286	.697
J. Lugo	22	5	2	0	0	1	2	3	.227	.292	.318	.610
Totals	122	35	11	0	6	22	20	20	.287	.397	.525	.922

A .922 OPS, I like the way those numbers look! Of course most of the damage has been done by the big two, but the last couple of games it looks like the big two of Ortiz and Ramirez are starting to hit at the same time. Would be sweet to see #499 tonight!

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	4	1	1	0	27	22	13	2	9	23	4.33	1.15	6.75
Batista	8	4	5	0	53 2/3	69	37	5	34	33	6.20	1.92	5.50

Daisuke has actually pitched very well against the Mariners in Seattle. Last year he went 15 innings striking out 18 while only walking 3 batters at Safeco. Oh, yeah, he also only gave up three earned runs in those two outings. If he can just come close to those numbers tonight, you have to like the Sox chances.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	10	8	0	0	60	41	16	4	38	53	2.40	1.32	6.00
Batista	10	3	6	0	48 2/3	65	35	4	31	35	6.47	1.97	4.77

Batista has made 1 relief appearance this year (a save vs texas), which actually improves his stats. The man has been horrible this year, and since he is historically bad vs the Sox, you have to like the teams chances.

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!