{"id":14763,"date":"2011-04-08T13:39:54","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T18:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=14763"},"modified":"2011-04-08T13:39:54","modified_gmt":"2011-04-08T18:39:54","slug":"rays-look-for-first-win-in-chicago-vs-white-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/rays-look-for-first-win-in-chicago-vs-white-sox-14763\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays Look For First Win In Chicago Vs White Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Rays (0-6) AT Chicago White Sox (4-2)<\/strong>
\nApril 8, 2011 at 8:10 PM EST<\/strong>
\nOpening Runline:\u00a0 CWS -1.5 +130, TAM +1.5 -150<\/strong>
\nCurrent Runline:\u00a0 CWS -1.5 +170, TAM +1.5 -165<\/strong>
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 CWS -165 \/ TAM +145<\/strong>
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 CWS -140 \/ TAM +130<\/strong>
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 8.5<\/strong>
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 7.5<\/strong>
\nSP:\u00a0 TAM- J. Shields, CWS- J. Danks<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
James Shields will take the mound tonight against the red hot White Sox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tampa, after being considered one of the favorites in the AL East, are now staring down at an 0-6 record.\u00a0 The only silver lining to be found in the cloud is that the Boston Red Sox have also started the season 0-6, while perennial doormat Baltimore has somehow propelled themselves to a 5-1 start, giving them a 5 game lead on both of the favorites in the division.<\/p>\n

How bad are things for the Rays?\u00a0 Last year they finished third in the majors in runs scored.\u00a0 This season, they have scored just 8 runs in 6 games.\u00a0 That works out to 1.25 runs a game.\u00a0 A team can’t win many when that is the case.\u00a0 Not having Evan Longoria could certainly account for some of it, but to lay the full blame on an injury would undermine how bad his replacements have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we never expected to start this way. We\u2019ve had success and we anticipate success this season,\u201d Rays Manager Joe Maddon said. \u201cWhat happens in the beginning of the year is more magnified than if it occurs in the middle when you\u2019ve built up a little cache of wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White Sox, unlike the Rays, have got off to a fast start and at 4-2 they lead the American League in runs scored (45) and are hitting an outstanding .320.\u00a0 \u201cRight now we\u2019re hitting in the clutch and that\u2019s very important,\u201d said manager Ozzie Guillen. \u201cWe\u2019re mixing in one run here and there. \u2026I think every day it\u2019s not the same guy every time. Different guys are doing the damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juan Pierre has worked out perfectly thus far, hitting .357, while they are receiving significant offensive contributions from Paul Konerko and Alex Rios.\u00a0 Carlos Quentin was riding a 5 game hitting streak before going 0 for 2 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Tampa’s Shields is 0-1, but it couldn’t have come in any sadder fashion.\u00a0 He struck out 7, and allowed only 2 runs over 7 1\/3 innings, but still received a loss for the game.\u00a0 He’s been successful in his road games with the White Sox, though, pitching a 2.63 ERA in his last two starts there.\u00a0 Shields’ PECOTA projections label him 13-10 this season with a 4.02 ERA.\u00a0 Obviously, the 13-10 is dependant upon Tampa Bay producing the level of runs they did last year, not the production level they have received so far.<\/p>\n

Danks, like Shields, lost his first game as well, despite giving up only 3 earned runs and striking out 8.\u00a0 Danks PECOTA projections for the season render him 11-9 with a 4.01 ERA, a significant increase from his 3.72 last season, and without precidence since he has been under 3.80 for the last three seasons, including 2008 when he had a 3.28 ERA.<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

The total has gone UNDER in 17 of Tampa Bay’s last 19 games and Tampa is 0-5 SU in their last 5 games.\u00a0 The total has gone UNDER in 6 of their last 7 on the road and they are 4-1 SU in their last 5 road games.\u00a0 The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Tampa’s last 12 games vs. the White Sox.\u00a0 Tampa is 2-4 SU in their last 6 games against the White Sox on the road.\u00a0 The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Tampa’s last 10 games on the road against the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

The total has gone OVER in 5 of the White Sox’s last 7 games.\u00a0 The White Sox are 13-4 SU over their last 17 games and the total has gone OVER in 12 of their last 16 at home.\u00a0 The White Sox are 6-1 SU in their last 7 at home and the total has gone UNDER in 8 of the last 12 against the Rays.\u00a0 Chicago is 4-2 SU in their last 6 at home against the Rays while the total has gone UNDER in 8 of the last 10 home games against the Rays.<\/p>\n

Tampa is desperate for a win, but will be hardpressed to find one here.\u00a0 Chicago’s very good at home and their offense is already rolling.\u00a0 Though Shields has experienced success against the Sox, it is likely he is going to have a tough time and it will most likely result in early bullpen appearances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Rays (0-6) AT Chicago White Sox (4-2) April 8, 2011 at 8:10 PM EST Opening Runline:\u00a0 CWS -1.5 +130, TAM +1.5 -150 Current Runline:\u00a0 CWS -1.5 +170, TAM +1.5 -165 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 CWS -165 \/ TAM +145 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 CWS -140 \/ TAM +130 Opening Total:\u00a0 8.5 Current Total:\u00a0 7.5 SP:\u00a0 TAM- J. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":4485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[171,150],"class_list":["post-14763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14764,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14763\/revisions\/14764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}