By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Rays vs. Indians
When/where: 7:10 tonight, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg
TV/radio: Sun Sports; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)
Tickets: $12-$255 at Tropicana Field box office, Ticketmaster, raysbaseball.com, team store in Tampa, $3 surcharge within five hours of game.
Promotion: James Shields "Juego G" T-shirt to first 10,000 fans.
Starting pitchers:
Rays
LH David Price (5-4, 3.89)
Indians
RH Josh Tomlin (6-1, 2.41)
Watch for ...
Price check: Winless in his past two starts, Price has had success vs. Cleveland, winning May 11 and winning his past three against them with a 2.14 ERA. He is one of three lefties to beat the Indians this year.
No Joshing: Tomlin, a 19th-round draft pick in 2006 who made his big-league debut in July, has quickly become one of the American League's top pitchers, allowing only a .182 batting average. He got a no-decision against the Rays on May 10, allowing three runs over six innings in a 5-4 Cleveland win.
Key matchups
Rays vs. Tomlin
Johnny Damon 2-for-3
Matt Joyce 2-for-3, HR
Casey Kotchman 2-for-6
Indians vs. Price
Asdrubal Cabrera 1-for-7
Shin-Soo Choo 2-for-10
Austin Kearns 1-for-12
On deck
Saturday: vs. Indians, 4:10; Sun Sports. Rays — James Shields (5-2, 2.00); Indians — Carlos Carrasco (3-2, 5.16)
Sunday: vs. Indians, 1:40; Sun Sports. Rays — Jeremy Hellickson (5-3, 3.14); Indians — Justin Masterson (5-2, 2.50)
Monday: vs. Rangers, 6:40; Sun Sports. Rays — Wade Davis (4-4, 3.71); Rangers — Derek Holland (3-1, 4.68)
Marc Topkin, Times staff writer
Home, sweet home
Tropicana Field hasn't been much of a homefield advantage, based on the difference between the Rays' offense numbers home and away, with rank in majors:
W-L Avg. Rk. R/G Rk. OBP Rk. Slg. Rk.
Home 11-13 .224 28 2.88 28 .289 27 .369 22
Road 15-10 .258 8 5.52 3 .327 9 .419 4
Ranking of the day
5 Rank of Rays' Stuart Sternberg, right, among owners, by ESPN's Jim Caple. The top four: Boston's John Henry, Texas' Nolan Ryan, the Angels' Arte Moreno, New York's Steinbrenners.