Rays vs White Sox ALDS

The Rays made all sorts of history in their remarkable 2008 season, by winning 95 games or more after posting the worst record in the major leagues the previous year. The White Sox made a small piece of history of their own by becoming the first team ever to win its last three games of the season against three different teams. Now they play each other in the least publicized series of all.

Questions coming into this series:

Can we get some Carl Crawford?
Crawford


This guy is the best player in franchise history, albeit a short history. His right hand injury will effect his at bats, but this guy wants badly to be on the field and enjoy in the team's success, as opposed to the past few months watching from the bench. Crawford endured so much losing with the Rays, spending six weeks on the disabled list "drove me crazy," he said. "The only thing that got me through was watching us keep on winning games." Now Crawford has a chance to contribute even if it's with a hand that's not 100 percent. This guy is the leader of this team and his presence will be felt.

How is that White Sox rotation?
This staff is gasping for air right now, trying to keep up. From Ozzie calling out Javier Vazquez for not being a big game pitcher to Evan Longoria's stated "advantage" that his team wanted to play the White Sox due to the "Dome Effect." John Danks struggled at times down the stretch, but pitched a gem in Game 163 on Tuesday against the Twins.I expect the White Sox bullpen to be heavily relied upon.

What does Tampa's rotation look like?
The Rays will start James Shields in Game 1, in part because he is known to teammates as "Big Game James." He always wants the ball and never backs down. Scott Kazmir, the Game 2 starter, is a bit of an issue. His ERA per month, starting with May, was 1.22, 3.60, 4.18, 4.02 and 5.19. In September, he allowed nine home runs, including four in a game twice during a three-start stretch; before that, he had never allowed four homers in any start in his career. I feel that the rest coming into tonight will greatly benefit Kazmir and its partly due because Scott hasn't pitched a full year in the majors up to now, with inury issues always cutting his season short. Matt Garza will start Game 3. The Rays have 13-game winner, Andy Sonnastine if the series goes to Game 4.

Will the White Sox defense cost them the series?
Perhaps. Ken Griffey Jr. made a huge defensive play in Tuesday night's win over the Twins, but he's not even close to his former self defensively. How many center fielders are replaced for defense late in a game? Jermaine Dye is just average in right field. This could be an issue because of a funky Tropicana Field with its roof, the catwalks, the big outfield and the noise. Plus, the Rays are very aggressive on the bases and surely will challenge the White Sox's outfield arms as often as they can.

Who will close for the Rays?
There's a chance that Troy Percival won't be on the first-round playoff roster because of recurring back trouble. That would leave closing primarily in the hands of Dan Wheeler, whose stuff is plenty good; he has pitched in a number of big games in his career. The Rays have plenty of depth. "Last year," one Ray said, "we didn't have one guy who could get a big out in the late innings. Now, we have six." One is Grant Balfour, "I don't know where he came from," said Rays coach Don Zimmer with a laugh, "but every time he goes in the game, everyone strikes out." The decrease in the Rays' bullpen ERA this year was the largest by any team in 85 years. Not one reliever who started last year with the team was on the team this year, including David Price, who likely will be kept on the roster as a secret weapon in the late innings for Chicago's left-handed hitters, specifically Jim Thome. I expect Wheeler to maintain that closer role and have Balfour set up for him as proven yesterday he is a gamer cursing out Cabrera and eventually striking him out.

Conclusion: I going on a leap on this one and just feel that of any team in the playoffs,the Rays are the most calm and collected out of all of them. Now if that helps or not, we are just going to have to wait and see. I've seen how they have handled themselves after winning the division and they are on a mission to not only make some noise, but win it all. I just feel the White Sox are just glad to have made it and don't have enough offensive versatility to match the Rays. The only chance is for them to get the ball out of the park early and often.

Rays in 3.