{"id":15254,"date":"2011-05-03T11:10:45","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=15254"},"modified":"2011-05-03T11:10:45","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:10:45","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-at-tampa-bay-rays-mlb-handicapping-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/toronto-blue-jays-at-tampa-bay-rays-mlb-handicapping-predictions-15254\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays MLB Handicapping & Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays square off in Game 1 of a three-game series Tuesday night at Tropicana Field<\/p>\n

Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Tampa Bay Rays welcome in the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game series<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto finished the month of April with a club-record 30 stolen bases, cruising past the previous record of 27 set in 1983 and 1984.\u00a0 It\u2019s a surprising stat when considering the team led the league in home runs last season, but new manager John Farrell has an aggressive style.\u00a0 \u201cThis is still a hit-first organization and we want to maintain that,\u201d Farrell stated.\u00a0 \u201cWe want to support that approach with a more diverse approach on the basepaths.\u00a0 This is an added weapon.\u201d\u00a0 One major player in the offense continues to be outfielder Jose Bautista, who is leading the majors with a .530 on-base percentage, while reaching base safely in 24 of his 25 games this season.\u00a0 Toronto is 7-10 in road games this year.<\/p>\n

Blue Jays starting pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes is 0-2 with a 5.48 ERA in five starts this season, as the team has produced a 2-3 record over that span.\u00a0 The left-hander is 0-2 with a 3.55 ERA in three road outings, surrendering 18 hits in just 12.2 innings of work.\u00a0 Tuesday\u2019s outing is important in staying in the rotation, as he could be just a start away from leaving the ball club.\u00a0 \u201cI think it\u2019s an important one.\u00a0 I think he could probably agree with that, as well,\u201d Farrell stated.\u00a0 Reyes has made just a single start against the Rays, allowing four runs and six hits over seven innings at home on April 22.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay has won six of its last eight games and is 15-7 since starting the season with an 0-6 mark.\u00a0 The Rays are 7-9 at Tropicana Field this season, but their 165 home wins since 2008 are the second-most in the majors during that span.\u00a0 Expect a rejuvenated club in tonight\u2019s game with the anticipated return of All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria, who has been out with a strained left oblique since the second game of the season.\u00a0 \u201cObviously you\u2019re missing an All-Star player – a Sliver Slugger guy, a gold glove guy,\u201d said manager Joe Maddon.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re miss all that stuff.\u201d\u00a0 Tampa Bay is 3-0 when playing with a day off.<\/p>\n

Rays starting pitcher Wade Davis is 3-2 with a 2.73 ERA in five starts this season, allowing just a single home run in 33.0 innings of work.\u00a0 The right-hander will be making his fourth career start versus the Blue Jays, bringing in a 2-1 record and 2.49 ERA, allowing them to hit just .238 in the process.\u00a0 Davis is also a perfect 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA at night this season compared to an 0-2 mark and 4.38 ERA during the day.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back The Rays due to their 5-2 record versus left-handed starters, while the Blue Jays are 1-4 versus the American League East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays square off in Game 1 of a three-game series Tuesday night at Tropicana Field Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays Toronto finished the month of April with a club-record 30 stolen bases, cruising past the previous record of 27 set in 1983 and 1984.\u00a0 It\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[4815,2401,150,223,1513],"class_list":["post-15254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-jo-jo-reyes","tag-jose-bautista","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-wade-davis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15254","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\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15255,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15254\/revisions\/15255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}