6/29 Online Seats Game Thread: Home Sweet Home

After a seemingly endless road stint that left the Boston Red Sox bruised and battered, they will have to mount up once again to take on the Tampa Bay Rays. John Lackey will head out to the mound for Boston, while James Shields will try to handle the Red Sox callups.

5/25 Online Seats Game Thread: Rays Give Red Sox A Lift

Don't look now, but the Boston Red Sox are starting to win games against some of the toughest teams in the majors. Jon Lester will look to carry that momentum forward, as he faces James Shields of the Tampa Bay Rays, who has been simply dominant thus far in 2010.

4/17 Online Seats Game Thread: Rain Shortens Hit Parade

The Boston Red Sox will finish what they started last night against the Rays, while a new game begins at 7:10, pitting Clay Buchholz against James Shields in game two of the series.

Is Tampa Bay pitching overrated?

While Tampa Bay has had plenty of named talent over the last few years from Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and then David Price came along. This along with a top offense and elite talent has led to their recent success in the AL East. Perhaps overvalued is a bit harsh, but they have several pitching changes and again compared to their peers in the division have some flaws. Departing this year will be the presence of Kazmir at the top of the rotation, but that shouldn't be a bad thing. His walk rate was always high and with the drop in velocity it's likely the drop in strikeouts is going to stick around. He is surely not the ace of seasons before. That leaves James Shields as the team ace and that is a good start. He was the ninth most valuable pitcher in the AL last year based on pitching runs above replacement. There were some cracks in his season though as his walk rate climbed, but not an extreme amount and should regress in 2010.

6/13 G2: Evening delight

GAME NOTES: Jon Lester takes the mound. Let's hope he starts off better than the canceled Friday affair, when he got the bases drunk in the first and only had one out before the torrential rain come. He'll go against 'Big Game James' Shields, who is looking to move to .500 on the season, given his 9-10 record.

9/11: Rays here to play spoiler

GAME NOTES: Jon Lester is in the midst of a rain delay against James Shields. The Rays are down and out, essentially, but you can bet they'd love to play spoiler against the Sox.

5/8: Weekend Showdown

Tonight begins an important series in the budding rivalry between these two organizations. The Rays are threatening to take a serious mental edge over the Red Sox with a series victory. The Red Sox would love nothing more than a sweep to establish that the AL East still goes through Fenway Park. And so it begins.

BOS 13, CLE 3: Outburst

Rocco Baldelli singled home two runs in the bottom of the sixth for the Red Sox giving them a 4-2 lead. For Boston, it was all the run support they needed but it didn't stop there.

5/3: Penny for a Split

Is this a put up or shut up start for Brad Penny? Not yet, but close.

BOS 10, TAM 6: Green, Youkilis lead Sox

Nick Green isn't making Terry Francona's decision to play Julio Lugo over him easy while teammate Kevin Youkilis isn't making opposing pitchers' jobs on the mound any easier.