Blue Jays-Chowdah Heads [Boston Red Sox] Preview

Hype

The Jays are rolling into the home of Chowdah, the Dropkick Murphys, JP, and Massholes-a-plenty, to take on the dastardly second place Boston Red Sox in a big three game set starting tomorrow. The Jays are rolling in off of the big sweep of the White Sox that put them 3.5 games ahead of Boston as they head to Fenway.

This is a big series, big enough to get Rogers and CTV to end their stupid feud about TSN 2. Expect to hear plenty of hyperbole about it being judgment day and the biggest series of the year.

I won't go that far, but it's the biggest series for the Jays so far. Their season is not completely resting on it, and to say such a thing is ludicrous; however, the result of the next few nights at Fenway can change the picture in the AL east dramatically for the time being.

Add to this that Doc (Roy Halladay) doesn't get a start this series and it becomes clear that there's not gonna be any freebies in Beantown.

This has all the makings of a good series.

Tale of the Tape

The Jays head in at 7-3 through their last 10 (4 straight), and have a league best 11-8 record on the road, and I cannot get tired of posting the run differential every series: they're outscoring the opposition 234-174 thanks to the best offence in the American league.

Boston, meanwhile, is 5-5 through their last 10, 13-4 at home, and is outscoring their opposition 208-190, with the third best offence in the AL.

Those Guys Who Throw the Ball

Tuesday: Brian Tallet (2-1, 4.68) vs. Tim Wakefield (4-2, 4.03)

I always dread watching Wakefield pitch against the Jays, maybe it's because of the success he's had against them in the past (16-11, 3.76), or maybe it's because Wakefield is the most boring pitcher in baseball to watch go to work.

Tallet, meanwhile, has been solid since his disaster in KC; he's been solid but unspectacular in his career against Boston (1-1 4.26), but with only one of his 16 appearances being a start, so this should be an interesting matchup.

Wednesday: Brett Cecil (2-0, 1.80) vs. Brad Penny (3-1, 6.69)

Cecil has been great since his call-up, and I'm damn happy to see it, even if I was on the "he's not ready" side of the fence in spring training. He held the White Sox in check on Friday very well, despite giving up a couple long balls, and his start in Oakland was awesome.

Penny's had his struggles this season, he's had a couple of very short outings (8 ER, over three innings in Cleveland last month comes to mind) but he's been turning it around lately, despite the high ERA.

Thursday: Robert Ray (1-1, 3.60) vs. Jon Lester (2-4, 6.51)

Ray earned mad props for his great start against Chicago, going eight strong, and officially making me believe he's not just a spot filler, but someone who actually belongs.

Another strong showing from him should cement his status in the rotation. Meanwhile, Lester is coming off of two bad starts (5 ER over 5.1 and 8 ER over 4.1) so his stuff has been very hittable lately, and with a potent Toronto offence, that can prove very, very problematic for the Masswads.

Other Stuff

Buried in the game notes about today's Jays-White Sox game was a quote from Cito Gaston about him and Geno Tenace trying to fix a mechanical problem with Travis Snider's swing, and the contingency plan in case of a Scutaro day off—Snider batting lead-off against a righty.

David Ortiz is still homerless for the Red Sox, and spent the weekend on the bench, but will be back in the line-up against the Jays. He's also hovering ever so close to Mendoza territory with a .208 clip. Wouldn't it just be lovely to see him drop below .200 against the Jays?

GO JAYS!