Sox & Rays Playing Well Heading Into Interleague Play

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Friday, May 21, 2010

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

The ebbs and flows of the baseball season; one week you’re up. Another week you’re down. A team or a player has a lousy month of April only to bounce back in May. And so it goes.

Virtually every team and every player goes through it. But at the end of 162 games, you are what you are.

We still don’t know exactly what the Boston Red Sox are. Are they a legitimate contender? Or are they fools gold? What we do know is that they’re starting to play better.

Jon Lester pitched the Sox’ first complete game of the season last night in Boston’s 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park. Lester has been brilliant of late and has clearly established himself as the ace of the staff at the moment. (Sorry, Josh Beckett!)

But this surprising offense continues to be very productive. Last night it was Kevin Youkilis who had a big night with a HR and 4 RBI. Adrian Beltre also homered going 2-3 with 2 runs scored.

Meanwhile, down in the Bronx, the Yankees lost again to the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays. For the second straight night, Tampa hammered a New York starter. AJ Burnett got shelled two nights ago and Andy Pettitte was hit hard last night giving up 7 runs in 5 innings of work.

The Rays have been baseball’s best team in the first two months of the season and they were led offensively by Carlos Pena’s 2 HR’s. Ben Zobrist and BJ Upton also went deep in the 8-6 win.

Tampa is 30-11 overall and an unbelievable 17-4 away from the Trop. They lead second place New York by 5 games in the AL East. Boston is fourth in the division 8 ½ back. While that deficit may seem daunting, Boston trails the Yankees by just 3 ½ games for the American League wild card spot. But there’s still 120 games to play in the season.

Interleague play starts tonight with the Red Sox having a tough draw. They play 3 over the weekend against the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen’s Bank Ballpark. Meanwhile, the Rays and Yankees draw a pair of last place teams. Tampa plays NL Central cellar-dweller Houston on the road while New York heads cross town to face the NY Mets who bring up the rear in the NL East.