[joey]

Anyone seen Dave's games today

[yisman]

I have his fp is all


4* #974 CLEVELAND over TAMPA BAY

Yesterday we talked about the major psychological shift that took place between these two teams on Monday night, and took advantage in cashing an easy underdog ticket with the Indians. Now the price has shifted a few coins, but not nearly enough to reflect the realities of the situation, which means that we come right back in again.

The Rays are vulnerable everywhere that you look. Both the offense and defense suffered major blows with the losses of Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura; B. J. Upton’s funk continues at the top of the lineup (now down to .189 after going 0-4 with two strikeouts last night); the bullpen is reduced to mostly journeymen set-up guys without a true closer like Troy Percival; and being nearer to last place than first in the A.L. East is difficult for the confidence level all the way around. Andy Sonnanstine does not bring enough in this setting to pick up that slack. Sonnanstine has worked to a 1-2/7.41 in three career starts against Cleveland, and there was nothing inspiring about the win, which came two starts back – he allowed five runs in 5.2 innings, including a pair of home runs to Ben Francisco. Now he takes to the road without the heart of the middle infield defense behind him, which not only brings his home/away splits into play (7.50 road vs. 4.96 home so far this season), but also means a quick second look for The Tribe against a guy that just has ordinary stuff, and must win with pin point location and execution. That becomes a major problem in this kind of setting – Sonnanstine has had 10 career starts in games in which he faced the same team twice within a span of 20 days or less, and in the second outing of those sequences he has worked to a horrendous 8.14 over 48.2 innings. That is often what happen to this class and style of pitcher.

Meanwhile Cleveland brings some fresh life to the table, and while this will be the first start of the season for Zach Jackson, his current form has his confidence level at the right place – in his last three AAA starts he allowed only one run on nine hits over 16 innings, including back-to-back shutouts. And with no fatigue ratings anywhere in the Indian bullpen, his mission will be accomplished after a couple of good passes through this lineup.

[LUCKYME1]

hey joey don't start threads with just the cappers name. You waste time for all of us thinking it's his pick.

Thanks and bol