By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Rays vs. White Sox
When/where: 6:40 tonight; Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg
TV/radio: Fox Sports Florida; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)
Starting pitchers
RAYS: RHP Wade Davis 1-2, 3.26
white SOX: RHP Phil Humber (1-1, 3.46)
Tickets: $9-$210 at Tropicana Field box office, Ticketmaster, raysbaseball.com, team store in Tampa, $3 surcharge within five hours of game.
Watch for …
Wading in: Davis earned a win in his last start without his usual velocity (and only one strikeout), which the Rays said was a good thing because it showed he was more of a pitcher. He is 2-1, 2.45 in three starts vs. Chicago, allowing only a .200 average.
Humble Humber: Jeff Niemann's former Rice teammate seems to have found a home with the Sox and showed it by beating the Rays on April 9 in Chicago. This is just his fifth career start over parts of six big-league seasons.
Key matchups
Rays vs. Humber
Sam Fuld 1-for-3
Felipe Lopez 2-for-7
Ben Zobrist 1-for-4
Sox vs. Davis
Juan Pierre 2-for-8
Paul Konerko 2-for-7
Alex Rios 0-for-8
On deck
Thursday: vs. White Sox, 6:40, Sun Sports. Rays — Jeff Niemann (0-2, 6.32); Sox — Gavin Floyd (1-1, 4.29)
Friday: at Jays, 7:07, Sun Sports. Rays — Jeremy Hellickson (1-2, 4.50); Jays — Brandon Morrow (0-0, 0.00)
Saturday: at Jays, 1:07, Fox Sports Florida. Rays — David Price (2-2, 2.83); Jays — TBA
Marc Topkin, Times staff writer
Birthday gift of the day
T.J. Andrews had to spend his 11th birthday as a patient at Tampa General Hospital's children's center, but the day got better when 3B Evan Longoria made a surprise visit — and brought along a Rays jersey as a present. Andrews is a baseball player and fan from Georgia recovering from burns suffered in an accidental explosion.
Numbers of the day
2.20 ERA of Rays starters over the past six games
4-0 Rays record in one-run games
Bolt of the day
The Rays will wear Lightning T-shirts and caps on their trip to Toronto Thursday night, manager Joe Maddon said, "to show support to the boys." And that's even though a few of "the boys" wore Twins caps when they attended Saturday's game as guests of Minnesota's Justin Morneau. "We forgive them because we wore Blackhawks stuff (during last year's playoffs)," Maddon said.