Series Preview: Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox

Fresh off of a sweep of the Minnesota Twins, the Rangers head to Boston in a two-game mini-set against the Boston Red Sox. This should make for very interesting viewing as both games feature the top-two starters for both teams. It will also give an interesting look at the Red Sox under Bobby Valentine, however they are missing star outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury who is out six-to-eight weeks with a shoulder subluxation.

Probable Starters:

Tuesday 6:10 CDT TEX: RHP Colby Lewis (1-0, 1.42 ERA/2.04 FIP) – BOS: LHP Jon Lester (0-1, 2.40 ERA/2.57 FIP)

Lewis would be 2-0 if it wasn’t for Joe Nathan’s blown save in the 9th inning against Seattle. Lewis has only walked one batter in 12.2 innings so far to go along with 15 strikeouts for a fantastic 15 K/BB ratio. A matchup to watch? Lewis against Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez is 6/7 against Lewis with 2 HR and a walk.

Lester has the misfortune of going against an ace for the third straight start, which is common as teams are still rolling with their original rotations at the beginning of the season. Lester has pitched well but in his two starts Justin Verlander and Ricky Romero were better. Lester’s early season success does come with a low BABIP (.220 compared to a career average of .297) so his numbers should come up slightly but obviously it is still really early so some weird numbers are to expected.

Wednesday 6:10 CDT TEX: LHP Derek Holland (1-0, 3.38 ERA/2.59 FIP) – BOS: RHP Josh Beckett (1-1, 5.68 ERA/7.86 FIP)

Holland is continuing to make his case for ace of the Rangers staff. He has a 67% first strike percentage which is great for him and didn’t walk anyone in his last start against Seattle. Holland has a chance to make a statement against the very good (but struggling) Boston offense.

Beckett’s numbers aren’t as bad as they look. He is being killed by his HR/FB rate which is currently at 25%. That means 1 of every 4 fly balls he’s given up have gone for homeruns which is ridiculous. His career average is at 11%. He also only has 4 strikeouts in 12.2 innings which is also way below his career average. Most of those bad numbers were in his first start against the Detroit Tigers and he rebounded nicely to pick up the win in his second start against the Blue Jays.

Projected Boston Lineup

1 SS Mike Aviles
2 2B Dustin Pedroia
3 1B Adrian Gonzalez
4 3B Kevin Youkilis
5 DH David Ortiz
6 CF Cody Ross
7 RF Ryan Sweeney
8 C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
9 LF Darnell McDonald

(source MLBDepthCharts)

Hot/Cold (Last 7 Games)

David Ortiz (Hot-BOS) .375/.444/.667 (9/24, 1 HR, 8 RBI)
Cody Ross (Hot-BOS) .333/.400/.714 (7/21, 2 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Cold-BOS) 1/10, 1 HR
Darnell McDonald (Cold-BOS) 1/15 (.067), 1 2B, 4 BB, 4 K
Michael Young (Hot-TEX) 11/25 (.440/.440/.640) 1 HR, 7 RBI
Yorvit Torrealba (Hot-TEX) 4/11 (.364/.417/.455)
Mike Napoli (Cold-TEX) 2/16 (.125) 1 HR, 2 RBI
Mitch Moreland (Cold-TEX) 1/11 (.091), 2 K

For more information on the Red Sox see Fansided’s Red Sox page, BoSox Injection.

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