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Last night, after an hour and a half rain delay, the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of the Tampa Bay Rays’ late-inning pitching mistakes to claim victory in Game 3 that ended at 1:47 am. The Phillies took a 2-1 advantage in the World Series. According to the SI.com account of the game, the Rays were also treated to the typically brotherly warm chilly reception given to visitors from the notorious Philadelphia fans.
Game 4 is scheduled for tonight, and the NFL does not have a Sunday Night Football game scheduled to accommodate the World Series. According to Weather.com, the projected forecast around Citizens Bank Park is clear for the entire evening. So the game should start on time, giving more people a chance to watch the finish, which many fans (including me), were not able to stay up and do last night.
The pitching matchup for tonight’s World Series Game 4, scheduled to begin at 8:00 on Fox, is as follows:
Tampa Bay Rays: Andy Sonnanstine (13-9), 4.38 ERA during the regular season
Andy Sonnanstine has only faced one batter currently on the Philadelphia Phillies roster: Matt Stairs; and Stairs did have good success in his 12 ABs versus Sonnanstine, going 4-12 with a HR.
Philadelphia Phillies: Joe Blanton (9-12), 4.69 ERA during the regular season
Joe Blanton has had pitched against all of the Rays primary hitters, as he only came over from Oakland this season. Carl Crawford is 7-22 lifetime against Blanton, while Carlos Pena is 4-7 with two bases on balls. This season, Blanton started once against the Rays and went 6 innings while given up four earned runs. He did pitched well at Citizens Bank Park after joining the Phillies, going 2-0 with a 3.55 ERA in 38 innings and 7 starts. In the three seasons prior to 2008, the Rays hit .315 off of Joe Blanton as a team.
It is hard to pick against the Philadelphia Phillies at home, even though I’d like to see the Rays even up the series; but I don’t see it happening. The Phillies’ offense appears to be waking up, and the Rays might have been a little unnerved by the nastiness at Citizens Bank Park last night. Joe Blanton has pitched well at home during his time as a Philly, and this will be the most difficult start of Andy Sonnanstine’s young career — and it comes in a pretty difficult venue to play in as a visitor. The Rays have had success against Joe Blanton, so I think both offenses will have success. But the Rays’ bullpen proved to be leaky last night, while the Phillies have Brad Lidge at the end of the game ready to shut it down.
My prediction: Philadelphia Phillies 8 | Tampa Bay Rays 6
Check out our World Series Preview for the rest of the World Series schedule, as well as the projected pitching matchups.
[tags]world series, tampa bay rays, philadelphia phillies, mlb[/tags]
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