Rays Face Bedard in Rubber Match

The Rays have looked solid in both games so far of the three game set with the Orioles. Although they lost on Friday 3-1, they did get a solid outing by their pitchers. Scott Kazmir continued his dominant second half form with a 7 inning outing in which he allowed 1 run on 7 hits, while striking out 9. The Rays bats were on fire and gave Kazmir the run support that he lacked in his last outing against the Orioles in Baltimore.

The Rays have had their problems with the Orioles all year, and after yesterday there record against the O's stands at 2-9. It will not be easy to get a win today as the Orioles send ace Erik Bedard to the mound. Bedard has been dominant all year and has owned the Rays as well. The Rays will counter with Andy Sonnanstine, who has looked good recently, but has not gotten the run support he has needed. Andy will be in a tough spot today as he will not get many runs with Bedard pitching, so he will need to be extra sharp.

Sonnanstine has not given up more than 5 runs in a game since June 16th and has been very steady, but he has a record of 1-6. Sonnanstine is not an overpowering pitcher, but he is very consistent. He throws his pitches around the plate and throws strikes. Sonnanstine likes to get ahead of the pitchers and use his breaking stuff to get the hitters out. He can pitch deep into games because he is so efficient with his pitches and throws to contact. The long ball had been a problem for Sonnanstine since coming up to the Rays and as he had allowed 11 home runs in his first 8 games. Sonnanstine has fixed that recently and has not allowed a home run in his last three games. Sonny will need to pitch well today and the hitters will need to take advantage of any mistake that Bedard makes, which usually aren't many.

For more on the Orioles check out thelosscolumn , who is a member of behind enemy lines. He always has a running post of whats going on during the game. Feel free to post there or here about the game and lets go RAYS!!!