The Texas Rangers vs. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Rangers vs. The 'Rays
I just want to get in the habit of saying it now. It's going to happen. It should happen. And when it does, I start pushing for a family reunion to be down in Tampa! After all, we are the Ray's. OK, onto more pressing issues, like today's game.

Jae-Weong Seo pitching for Tampa vs. Jamey Alan Wright pitching for Texas. Jamey Wright most likely has a love/hate relationship with his birthday - born on December 24, 1974... I'm sure his parents enjoyed the 1974 Tax Break, however. Jamey has not pitched a regular season game this season. He won the number five spot over Loe and Chen. Loe had pitched the best between the three, followed by Wright, then Chen. All surprisingly made the roster, especially Chen, who at the last minute renegotiated his contract.

I'll be honest, Jamey has never had "brilliant" numbers. He had a season with an ERA 4.10 (his lowest for a season) which was in 2000 with Milwaukee. He pitched 164 2/3 innings and gave up 12 homeruns, 88 walks, and 157 hits. His record in 25 starts was 7-9. Jamey has had a number of horrendous seasons with Colorado. Maybe he should keep it in his contract to never pitch there under ANY circumstances - when you see these numbers, you'll understand. One season: 6.25 ERA, 19 homeruns (1997). Another season: 5.67 ERA, 24 homeruns (1998). Yet another season: 5.46 ERA, 22 homeruns (2005). My two cents on this, don't let him have anything to do with Colorado again. Just let him flush them down the toilet and try to salvage a career that has only two seasons where Wright has finished at .500 or above (and that covers 11 seasons, by the way). In 1996 with Colorado, he finished with a 4-4 record. and in 1999 with Colorado he finished with a 4-3 record. I think it is important for Wright to have a great outing tonight, and even more so, a career season this year, in wins (11 is the most he's ever had), having a winning season, and lowering his career ERA (5.14 ERA) with a good mark this year. Will it happen? I guess he just has to get on the "Wright" track. (Wow, what a horrible pun.)

Now, Wright vs. Tampa: This is pretty simple. He's never started or pitched against Tampa Bay. He has faced several of their current players on their roster, thanks to the yearly dance we call the "Free Agency Shuffle" and then there's the Prom Night, where sometimes the Prom King gets traded away to a new high school for two cheerleaders to be named later. Anyway, there are six players Wright has faced on the 'Rays. Take a peek:

• Greg "Anti-Virus" Norton: 5 for 10 (3 doubles, 5 RBIs)
• Dioner Navarro: 4 for 11 (2 doubles)
• Carlos Pena: 1 for 3
• Casey Fossum: 1 for 3

The 'Rays, as a team, are hitting 12 for 36 combined with 5 RBIs, two walks, and seven strikeouts. Gary Glover is 0 for 4 and Ty Wigginton is 1 for 5 to round out the six Wright has faced. This game could be a morale booster for Wright, or it could be indications of another tough season for him. Its rough to say that one start can carry all this load with it, but let's just be honest on who this team is: IT IS TAMPA BAY!!! It's almost like saying you have a bye week in football. You don't want to look past them, but almost can't stop yourself from doing so... IT'S TAMPA BAY!!! OK, let's look at the 'Rays arm.

Jae-Weong Seo does well against the Rangers, but I will, of course, go into that in detail here in a second. Jae-Weong was born on May 24, 1977 and has five years of experience. He's sporting a 7.11 ERA coming into this game (WHERE'S THE BAND-AID!!!) in which he started a game against the Yankees. The 'Rays won the game 7-6, but Seo didn't snag the win. He pitched 6 1/3 innings and gave up 5 runs on 11 hits, but he didn't give up the long ball against a Yankee team that is supposed to hit them. In 2006, Seo gave up 17 shots in 90 innings! In 2005, it was 14 in just 67 innings. In 2004, it was 9 homeruns in 90 1/3 innings. in perspective, he gave up about a homerun ever 10 innings in '04, a homerun every 4.78 innings in '05, and a homerun every 5.29 innings in '06. The last two years, Seo has given a fan something when he hits the mound and a batter something good to see. And guess what, the Yankees didn't hit one out. The batters are due for some "home-run-fun" for tonight.

Seo has pitched against the Rangers once. Once. And he won. It was at the Ballpark in Arlington that was Ameriquest that is now the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. I love playing with names. And so do sponsers. Can they stay with a name? JUST STAY WITH IT!!! Put a Nike logo over with the phrase "Just stay with it" and leave the "Rangers Ballpark in Arlington" as it is. For me, it has been and always will be "The Ballpark". Anyway, back to Seo... his ERA against the Rangers in this Stadium is 2.57 - He went seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits, striking out six and walking one. I believe it will be a different night for him, on one simple fact. The hitters work the count. I can't see Seo getting away with one walk tonight. Let's look at the hitters against him:

• Brad Wilkerson: 11 for 46 (3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homerun, 3 RBIs)
• Kenny Lofton: 4 for 15 (2 doubles, 2 homeruns, 2 RBIs, 3 walks)
• Sammy "Hunting 600" Sosa: 1 for 5 (1 homerun, 3 RBIs, 1 walk)
• Matt Kata: 1 for 4
• Michael Young: 1 for 3

Hank Blalock is 0 for 3, Mark Teixeira is 0 for 2, and Frank Catalanotto is 1 for 7. Those three hitters combine for 1 for 12. Millwood, Padilla, and Robinson Tejeda have also batted against him and combined for another 0 for 7. Add that to the 1 for 12 and that's a wonderful 1 for 19. The current roster is 19 for 92 which makes up a .207 batting average, but I can't see Millwood batting tonight. That would make for a strange night if he did. But, you have me, with my trusty nerd utility belt, the actual average would be 19 for 85, which is a .224 average. It's better than that cold average.

So, what does all this stuff mean? Seo is in a park where he can pitch. Wright hasn't pitched a regular season game and has never pitched against the 'Rays. A Ranger win tonight could mean a playoff win or it could mean missing the playoffs completely... OK, maybe not that much pressure, but it could mean Wright pitching in a starter role in May or not.

Forecast: Rangers outhit the Rays. Win 6-5. (Sosa goes deep against Seo with a two run shot!)