Evan Longoria just recieved two more awards to add to his trophy case, which is great for him and the Rays. The awards announcement left me asking one big question: Why did Carl Crawford not get any awards? Now, I am saying this before the MVPs are announced, but it is a bit of a long shot for CC to win. IMO, CC could’ve easily won the Silver Slugger or the Gold Glove. In fact, Crawford should probably have 2 or 3 Gold Gloves by now.

Let’s compare their stats for the Gold Glove. The American League winners were Adam Jones, Torii Hunter, and Ichiro Suzuki. Now I will put them up against CC:

Adam Jones and Torii Hunter were both hurt for part of the year. Granted, both had great defensive seasons, but it seems wrong for the award givers to give an award to somebody who did not play the whole season. CC put up close to all three of their stats, so I think Crawford should’ve gotten one.

Sean Gallagher makes his second start of 2009 after beginning the season in the bullpen.  He’s 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.67 WHIP.  This is his third career start against the Rays.  He has posted no record against Tampa Bay, but has a fine 2.70 ERA. 

Willy Aybar will probably return to the DH spot for this game.  In his career, he’s 3-4 with a double and triple against Gallagher. Navi also hits Gallagher well, going 2-3 against him.  No Rays have career home runs against him.

On the mound for the Rays will be Jeff Niemann, who is 3-3 in seven starts this season.  So far, Niemann has not shown he can pitch deep into ball games.  So far, he’s only pitched six innings once.  The addition of Jason Isringhausen to the bullpen will provide an extra arm should they need to be called upon early again in this game. 

This is Niemann’s first appearance against the A’s.  Only Orlando Cabrera has faced him, going 1-3 while he was with the White Sox.

Rays come in with a 3-game win streak.  The teams in front of them in the AL East are hot as well.  The Rays will need to maintain this hot stretch if they’re going to remain in contention in a race that all of a sudden has a surprise front-runner in the Toronto Blue Jays.

It’s start #3 for Josh Beckett this season against the Rays.  So far, it’s been a mixed bag for Beckett, winning handily at Fenway and getting rocked at the Trop.  On April 7, he pitched seven innings of two-hit ball, allowing just one run while striking out 10. Then, a few weeks later at the Trop, Beckett was tagged for seven runs on ten hits in just 4 2/3 innings of work as the Rays went on to win 13-0. 

Beckett’s season has pretty much followed that same pattern.  Is win-loss record is 3-2, and so far he has pitched poorly following a win on each occasion.  He won his last outing against the Yankees on Monday, so if history holds true, the Rays should be in for a good day.    Beckett’s ERA this season is 6.75 and opponents are hitting a robust .315 against him.

Michel Hernandez had a career game against Beckett the last time out.  He got his first HR of his career, going 2-3 against him.  BJ Upton also went 2-3 in that game.  Akinori Iwamura is 9-27 lifetime against Beckett, follwed by Carl Crawford who is 8-27 lifetime.  On the other hand, Carlos Pena is 3-22 and Pat Burrell 8-41.

Matt Garza returns to the mound to face the Red Sox.  His last time out against Boston was memorable, taking a perfect game into the 7th.  This will also be his third start of the season against the Red Sox as he has been a Boston killer so far, going 2-0 and has allowed only one run 14 2/3 innings of work. 

This will be Matt’s 9th start against Boston.  He is 5-1 lifetime against them.  It’s difficult to find anyone on the Red Sox team that has much success against him, but Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis both have a couple of hits this season against Garza.  Overall, Ellsbury is 8-19 against Garza.  On the flip side, Dustin Pedroia is a career 3-21 and Mike Lowell 2-17 against him.

Left-handed starter Jon Lester was the only Red Sox pitcher the Rays didn’t see in last weekend’s four-game series at the Trop.  With the Rays being 2-8 against left-handed starters, that was a good thing.  But, tonight, they face Lester for the second time this season.  Lester was the starter in one of the two Rays wins against lefties, a 7-2 win at Fenway on April 8.  In that game, Lester lasted only five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits. 

For the season, Lester is 2-2 with a 5.11 ERA and 1.46 WHIP.  In his career against Tampa Bay, Lester has started eight games, going 4-1 with a 3.97 ERA. 

In the first time around, Carl Crawford, Jason Bartlett and Aki Iwamura all had two hits against Lester.  And, Carlos Pena added a home run.  Overall, Bartlett is a career 6-11 against him and Carlos Pena is 6-19 with three HR.  On the other hand, Pat Burrell is 0-5 and BJ Upton is 4-18. 

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In a rematch of Sunday’s clash between the Rays and Red Sox, Brad Penny goes to the mound to face James Shields.  In the earlier game at the Trop, Penny pitched fairly well in a losing effort, allowing six hits and three runs over six innings of work.  He struck out eight. 

For the season, Penny is 2-1 with a high 7.61 ERA and 1.82 WHIP.  Opposing hitters are hitting .303 off him. 

In Sunday’s game, you’ll probably recall that this was Carl Crawford’s amazing six stolen base game.  Four of those came while Penny was on the mound, as he went 2-2 and drew a walk in three plate appearances.  Jason Bartlett went 2-3 in that game against the Red Sox right-hander.

As mentioned before, James Shields will try to repeat Sunday’s outcome against the Red Sox when he 7 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out six.  This win improved his record to 3-2 with a 3.51 ERA.  This will be his fifth start on the road this season, compared to two starts at home.  He is 1-2 on the road, 2-0 at home. 

This will actually be James’ third start against Boston this season.  He lost an earlier outing at Fenway 5-3.  In that game, he lasted only 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits.  So far this season, JD Drew is 3-5 with a couple of doubles and Kevin Youkilis is 3-6.  But, Youkilis has missed the past three games with back pain, so we’ll see if he’s healthy enough to return tonight.

The run on right-handed starting pitching ends as the Rays face Andy Pettitte to close this quick two-game series in New York.  This will be Pettitte’s second start of the season against Tampa Bay after getting a no-decision in his start at the Trop during the opening series.  In that game, he went 7 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and three runs while striking out four.

For the season, Pettitte is 2-1 with a 3.89 ERA.  And, in his career against the Rays, he has made 25 starts, going 15-4 with a 3.63 ERA. 

In the first game this season, Carlos Pena homered and Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Gabe Kapler each doubled.  Overall, Pena is a career 10-30 with three HRs against Pettitte.  Dioner Navarro is 4-12 and Carl Crawford 8-30.  On the downside, Evan Longoria is 1-8 and Pat Burrell 3-15.  The Rays will need more productivity from the right side of their batting order if they are going to improve on their 1-8 record against left-handed starters.

On the mound for the Rays will be Jeff Niemann, who will be trying to rebound from a rough outing last time out.  Niemann missed the Yankees at the Trop.  He is 2-3 with a 5.68 ERA on the season.  And, if you go inside the numbers, right-handed bats have faired much better against Niemann, hitting .320 with four HRs against him compared to .240 and no home runs by lefties.

The Rays get their second crack at AJ Burnett in the first game of a short two-game series at the new Yankees Stadium.  In the first game, Burnett dominated the Rays, winning 7-2.  In that game, he gave up three hits and one run over eight innings while striking out nine batters.  So far this season, Burnett is 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA.  He has not won since the April 14 Rays game.

This will be Burnett’s 18th start against Tampa Bay.  He is 8-4 with an impressive 2.94 ERA against them.  In the first game, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena were the only batters who could manage a hit.  Career-wise, Carl Crawford is 14-39 with a HR and 10 stolen bases against the Yankees right-hander.  On the other side of the coin, Evan Longoria (2-13), Carlos Pena (3-22) and BJ Upton (4-18) struggle against Burnett.

On the mound for the Rays will be Andy Sonnanstine.  This is also Andy’s second time out against the Yankees this season.  In the home-opening series he lost 4-3 to the Yankees, although he didn’t pitch poorly.  He gave up two runs on four hits, but was pulled after five innings of work.  In his career against New York, he has made five starts, going 2-1 with a rather high 5.65 ERA.

Derek Jeter is 6-15 against Sonnanstine to lead the Yankees.  Hideki Matsui is 3-10 with a couple of HR and Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon have also homered. 

This game marks the beginning of an important 7-game road trip through the AL East cities of New York, Boston and Baltimore.