Another important weekend for wild card-hopeful Rays

ESPN.com

Updated: September 3, 2009

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Jeff Niemann has been solid in the Rays' rotation, going 12-5 with a 3.80 ERA.

By Tim Kurkjian, ESPN The Magazine

The most compelling, and most important, series of the weekend is definitely Detroit at Tampa Bay. The Rays have a big hill to scale trying to catch the Rangers and Red Sox for the American League wild card. The Tigers are attempting to hold off the Twins in the AL Central. As I've already said, the Tigers shouldn't have a problem winning the AL Central.

This is a crucial series, especially for the Rays, who basically have to go 20-10 the rest of the way and then hope the Red Sox and Rangers fade to have a chance to make the playoffs. Make note that Wednesday night, the Tigers went 10 games over .500 for the first time this year.

The pitching matchups slightly favor the Tigers, as Detroit's pitching staff is second in the American League in ERA (4.13). Ace Justin Verlander will start Friday night; he has won six of his past seven decisions, including a 4-3 win over the Rays on Aug. 30 in Detroit. The Rays will throw Jeff Niemann; where would that team be without him and his 12-5 record and 3.80 ERA? Saturday night, Armando Galarraga steps in for Jarrod Washburn, who will rest his ailing knee.

Featured Series: Tigers at Rays
FRIDAY
Tigers (Justin Verlander) at Rays (Jeff Niemann), 7:38 p.m. ET
SATURDAY
Tigers (Armando Galarraga) at Rays (James Shields), 7:08 p.m. ET
SUNDAY
Tigers (Edwin Jackson) at Rays (Wade Davis), 1:38 p.m. ET

Washburn did not have an ERA as high as 3.50 in any of the first four months with the Mariners, but in August, he posted a 6.81 ERA for the Tigers, and allowed 11 homers in 37 innings. If he continues to labor, and if that knee continues to plague him, he might lose the No. 3 spot in the rotation for the first round of the playoffs.

Sunday will feature the major league debut of Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Wade Davis, who has long been one of the top pitching prospects in the Rays' system. He essentially takes the rotation spot left by Scott Kazmir, who recently was traded to the Los Angeles Angels. The Tigers will throw Edwin Jackson, who will be facing his former team for the first time since being traded last winter for outfielder Matt Joyce. That trade has heavily favored the Tigers so far; Jackson is 11-6 with a 3.06 ERA, and Joyce has batted .188 in only 32 at-bats this season.

Both teams have played pretty well lately, but this weekend's series means even more to the Rays than it does to the Tigers. So, I would bet that they win two of three, and stay in the race.

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: Sept. 2 | Sept. 1 | Aug. 31 | Aug. 30 | Aug. 27

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Touch 'Em AllWho went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on "Baseball Tonight" and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

Home Run Tracker
NAME HR OPPSITUATION
Jayson Werth, PHI30LincecumBot 2: 3-2, 1 Out. None on.
Curtis Granderson, DET26CarmonaBot 1: 1-1, 0 Outs. None on.
Alex Rodriguez, NYY24FrasorTop 9: 1-0, 2 Outs. None on.
Clint Barmes, COL22FelicianoBot 8: 3-2, 1 Out. None on.
Matt Holliday, STL21VargasBot 8: 2-1, 0 Outs. None on.
Ian Stewart, COL20MischBot 7: 1-2, 2 Outs. None on.
Jorge Posada, NYY20FrasorTop 9: 1-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
Brian McCann, ATL18NolascoTop 2: 1-2, 0 Outs. None on.
Chris Iannetta, COL15MischBot 7: 0-0, 2 Outs. None on.
Franklin Gutierrez, SEA15TomkoTop 1: 2-1, 0 Outs. 1 on.
Casey McGehee, MIL13SmoltzTop 6: 0-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
Daniel Murphy, NYM8BeimelTop 9: 3-1, 0 Outs. 1 on.
Rocco Baldelli, BOS7PriceTop 2: 0-0, 1 Out. None on.
Bill Hall, SEA7TomkoTop 1: 1-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
Eugenio Velez, SF4MartinezTop 1: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
Julio Lugo, STL3ParraBot 1: 3-2, 0 Outs. None on.
The complete list of Thursday's homers

ON DECK: WEEKEND WATCH

Red Sox at White Sox

The White Sox insist they aren't done yet. The Red Sox are trying to hold off the Rangers and the Rays in the AL wild-card race. Two aging starters who only recently returned to major league rotations -- the Red Sox's Paul Byrd and the White Sox's Freddy Garcia -- open the series on Friday.

Phillies at Astros

This series is worth a look if for no other reason than the pitching matchup in the series opener. Cliff Lee finally lost with the Phillies, but even after giving up six runs and three homers against Atlanta his ERA is still 1.80 with Philly. Wandy Rodriguez has lost his past two starts, though one was a 1-0 defeat at St. Louis.

Giants at Brewers

The Giants failed to pull even with the Rockies in the wild card despite Colorado's loss earlier in the day Thursday and Tim Lincecum's 11-K performance against the Phillies. San Francisco will send out Barry Zito, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez. The marquee matchup is Saturday, when Cain faces Yovani Gallardo.

For the rest of Friday's schedule, click here. To see what's on tap for Saturday, click here. And for Sunday's full slate of games, click here.


ESPN Conversation

BBTN ON THE AIR: FRIDAY

TIME WHO'S ON?
12 a.m. ET
ESPN2		 Host: Steve Berthiaume
Analysts: Tim Kurkjian, Fernando Vina

BBTN ON THE AIR: SATURDAY

TIME WHO'S ON?
1:30 a.m. ET
ESPN2		 Host: Mike Hill
Analysts: Tim Kurkjian, Fernando Vina

BBTN ON THE AIR: SUNDAY

TIME WHO'S ON?
7 p.m. ET
ESPN2		 Host: Karl Ravech
Analysts: John Kruk, Peter Gammons, Chris Singleton

BBTN MINUTE: IMPORTANT SERIES IN TAMPA

SIMON SAYS

Simon Says ESPN researcher Mark Simon digs deep, looking for the night's best baseball numbers.

Tonight, he takes a look at just how often Pedro Martinez has had his pinpoint accuracy over the years. Martinez struck out nine and did not issue a walk in outdueling reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum in the Phillies' 2-1 win over the Giants:

Most walk-free starts with 9+ strikeouts
(Since 1969)
Randy Johnson 41
Curt Schilling 34
Roger Clemens 30
Pedro Martinez 29
Mike Mussina 19

WEB GEMS

THURSDAY'S BEST AND WORST

BEST
Joe Martinez• Carlos Torres, a September call-up for the White Sox, made his first major league start in nearly a month and handcuffed the crosstown Cubs in a makeup game from earlier this year. Torres pitched seven shutout innings, allowing five hits to go with six strikeouts and no walks in the White Sox's 5-0 win.
WORST
Ricky Romero• Toronto's Ricky Romero needed someone to point him in the direction of the strike zone in the Blue Jays' 10-5 loss against the Yankees. Romero walked six in 4 1/3 innings. When he did throw pitches to hit, the Yankees hit them, coming up with six hits and seven runs before Romero exited.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

Roy Halladay Roy Halladay was one of the biggest names available at the trade deadline and many teams were after his services, but he ultimately wound up staying in Toronto. Since the trade deadline, he's been 2-4 with a 4.71 ERA and everyone has been speculating as to what is wrong with him.

Halladay actually has been pretty much the same pitcher in August that he was all season. His strikeout rate is down slightly (21.9 percent of batters pre-deadline, 20.0 percent in August) but his walk total is still low (3.4 percent of batters pre-deadline, 2.8 percent since). Batters have also been putting the ball in play only slightly more than they had before the deadline. The problem has been Halladay's batting average on balls in play (BABIP), which is .354 since the All-Star break, more than 50 points higher than his pre-deadline total.

Roy Halladay (2009)
April-July August
BA against .249 .316
In-play pct. 74.2 76.7
BABIP .301 .354

-- ESPN Stats & Information

FANTASY: PREVIEW OF FRIDAY'S GAMES

Fantasy Adam Madison examines the 15 games on Friday's slate.

Madison ranks the pitchers scheduled to take the mound and supplies loads of other information that could help shape your roster for Friday. Daily Notes

HUNT FOR OCTOBER

Here's the latest in the wild-card races:

AL WILD CARD
TEAM W-L GB POFF
Red Sox 78-55 -- 84.5%
Rangers 75-58 3.0 30.7%
Rays 72-61 6.0 4.3%
NL WILD CARD
TEAM W-L GB POFF
Rockies 74-60 -- 55.3%
Giants 73-61 1.0 31.1%
Braves 70-64 4.0 10.1%
Marlins 70-64 4.0 5.9%
Cubs 67-65 6.0 1.9%

For more on all the playoff races, see the Hunt for October