Oakland @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 12, 2009 ) Oakland 7, Tampa Bay 3
While it is very early in the 2010 season, the Tampa Bay Rays have already proven that they're serious contenders in the AL East.
Already having traded punches with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the Rays have raced out to a 14-5 and lead the division by 1 1/2 games. Early, yes, but these Rays are far from pretenders.
Last season, Tampa Bay finished the month of April with a 9-14 mark and the Rays never seriously threatened the top two dogs in the East. Tampa Bay missed the playoffs a year after reaching the World Series and vowed to return this season.
It is apparent that this year's squad, which hosts the Oakland A's in the first game of a three-game series at Tropicana Field Tuesday, realizes how important it is get off to a fast start in the powerful AL East.
Tampa Bay has all the pieces in place this year.
David Price, who pitched his first complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday has emerged as one of the game's top young pitchers. Price is off to a 3-1
start with a 3.20 ERA.
Tampa Bay leads the majors in runs scored (107) and is second in the American League in team ERA (3.38).
Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford are perennial All-Stars and Ben Zobrist, who played in his first All-Star game last season, is an emerging star who signed a three-year extension with the team last week.
And just when it appeared the Rays may have a need at catcher, rookie John Jaso has had two big games filling in for injured backstops Kelly Shoppach and Dioner Navarro.
The Rays will start Wade Davis (1-1) Tuesday against Oakland's Ben Sheets (1-1).
Sheets is coming off a pair of solid outings. The veteran right-hander, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the A's in the offseason, lost a 3-1 decision against the Yankees last time out. The prior start he defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2, for his first win in an A's uniform.
Oakland enters the series with a surprising two-game lead in the AL West.
The A's have also been buoyed by their pitching which leads the league in ERA. They'll also send Dallas Braden (3-0) and Justin Duchscherer (2-0) to the hill against the Rays this week.
Kevin Kouzmanoff and Eric Chavez both drove in three runs as the A's hammered the Cleveland Indians, 11-0, Sunday. Kouzmanoff had missed the previous game with after fouling a ball off his foot.
A's catcher Kurt Suzuki, who has four of his team's eight home runs, has missed the past two games with a sore back. He is expected to return to the lineup Tuesday.