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.

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.

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.

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. 

Scott Kazmir gets the start for the Rays.  This will also be his second start against the Red Sox this season, the first coming in that April 8 matchup with Lester, with Kazmir on the winning side.  In that game, Kaz went six innings, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out four.  So far this season, he’s struggled a little bit with his control, and is 3-3 with a 6.00 ERA and 1.58 WHIP.

This will be Kazmir’s 23rd start against the Red Sox.  He is 7-7 with a 3.52 ERA against them.  Kevin Youkilis was 2-3 in the first game and Rocco Baldelli had a hit as well.  Overall, one could say Dustin Pedroia owns Scott Kazmir, going 15-27 at the plate.  Mike Lowell has four HR while going 9-37 with Kaz on the mound.  David Ortiz has also pounded out a couple of HR, but is only 8-41 lifetime against him.

The Rays look to even the series, and will have a national audience to do it in front of as this is the Saturday afternoon Fox matchup today.

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.

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.

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.