vs. | ||
40-33 (1st place, NL Central) |
39-33 (3rd place, AL East) |
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GAME 1: June 20, 2011 @ 7:10 p.m. CDT GAME 3: June 22, 2011 @ 1:10 p.m. CDT Miller Park Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
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SBN Coverage: Rays vs Brewers coverage A View from the Other Dugout: DRaysBay |
Game 1 | Chris Narveson (4-4, 4.48) | vs. | Jeff Niemann (1-4, 5.74) |
vs. Rays |
(0-0, ---) | vs. Brewers | (0-0, ---) |
Game 2 |
Zack Greinke (6-2, 5.23) |
vs. | Jeremy Hellickson (7-5, 3.09) |
vs. Rays |
(0-0, ---) | vs. Brewers | (0-0, ---) |
Game 3 | TBA | vs. | David Price (7-6, 3.61) |
vs. Rays |
--- | vs. Brewers | (0-0, ---) |
Click here to see available tickets via BCB and TiqIQ.
Steve Slowinski of DRaysBay was kind enough to take a few moments to answer some questions about the Rays in advance of tonight's series opener:
KL: The Brewers are scheduled to face Jeff Niemann tonight, making his first start since the first week in May. What's kept him on the shelf this long, and what are the Rays expecting from him tonight?
SS: Niemann hit the DL with a stiff back, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only reason the Rays sent him to the DL: he's also just pitched poorly since around July of last season. He's an odd pitcher: while he's 6'9", he doesn't have overpowering stuff and instead relies on mixing his pitches and hitting his spots to get batters out. He had trouble early this season with his location, missing high in the zone frequently (which would point to a back issue, one would think), so hopefully he's gotten those issues all figured out. I'm really tired of watching a crappy Jeff Niemann try and gut through an outing -- if he doesn't show much improvement soon, I'm going to be banging the "Alex Cobb for #5 Starter" drum loud.
Follow the jump for more.
KL: At first glance, the Rays offense doesn't look like much. Is their .310 team OBP (entering play Sunday) roughly what we should expect this week, or is there reason to believe the bats will turn around?
SS: Nope, that's about right. The Rays' offense has not been terribly strong so far this year, and it's been helped along by some timely streaks. Sam Fuld had a crazy hot streak that propelled the Rays early in the year, Matt Joyce was on fire up until a few weeks ago, and Casey Kotchman has been hitting like "woh" for the past month and a half. But the truth of the matter is that this team doesn't have a very strong lineup. Sam Fuld, Elliot Johnson, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez, John Jaso, Kelly Shoppach -- these players all have some offensive upside (some more than others), but they're far from a collection of offensive stars.
KL: The Rays are coming off a three game sweep of the Marlins and were Edwin Rodriguez's last opponent before he resigned as Florida's manager. Some of my readers would probably be ok with it if the Rays could convince Ron Roenicke to do the same. Are they up to the challenge?
SS: Just as long as you don't try and poach Joe Maddon, definitely! I feel incredibly spoiled that the Rays have Maddon as their manager -- I don't know what it's like anymore to bemoan every decision coming from the bench.
Thanks again to Steve for taking the time. Be sure to check out more of his work over at DRaysBay.