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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Rays

Newsflash: BJ Upton and Carl Crawford are fast.

As in fast enough to combine for 69 steals in Tampa Bay’s first 80 games. That’s good enough for the duo to put Tampa 4th in steals in all of Major League Baseball. By themselves. As a team? Oh, the Rays have managed a humble 121 steals, which gives them the ML lead by 42. Tampa stole as many or more bases in the month of May than 22 teams have stolen all season. Scratch that newsflash. It should read: The Tampa Bay Rays are fast.

So the Rangers will certainly have their hands full keeping Upton, Crawford and company corralled over their weekend series with the Rays. And the Tampa outfields have a lot more to offer than just their speed, too.

But neither Upton nor Crawford have been consistent enough through three months to be Tampa’s most valuable player. Surely then, it’s someone like Evan Longoria, who’s 63 RBI are third in the AL. Or Carlos Pena, the AL’s home run leader who helped Tampa post a franchise record 41 bombs last month. No? Then who?

Try Jason Bartlett. Bartlett boasts a .362 batting average and a .961 OPS, which is a full .230 points above his career average. His batting average this year is better than his slugging percentage last year. Add in 17 stolen bases and Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop, and it’s no surprise that Bartlett is considered the MVP of the team with the second best record in baseball since May.

Then there’s Scott Kazmir, who… how should I put this?… owns the Texas Rangers. In seven career starts against Texas, Kazmir has a 2.09 ERA and the Rays are 7-0 in those games. Last season alone, Kazmir went 3-0 with 23 strikeouts in 21 innings. But there may be reason for hope as he takes the mound tonight in Tampa. Kazmir, who led the AL in strikeouts just two years ago (when Johan Santana was still a Twin), has an ERA of 7.28 for the season and has struggled mightily with his control, walking 30 batters in just 50.2 innings. He’s making just his second start tonight since returning from the DL.

The back of the Rays bullpen is without Troy Percival and Jason Isringhausen, who have 651 career saves between them. A few weeks ago, JP Howell had more blown saves (10) than saves (8) for his career. But since stepping into the closer role, Howell has done everything asked of him, converting four consecutive save opportunities while in the midst of a 17.2 inning streak without allowing an earned run.

There are also a few former Rangers to look out for over the weekend. The aforementioned Pena, once an elite Ranger prospect, has been a beast at the plate but a butcher in the field. Gabe Kapler, who racked up nearly half of his career home runs in Texas, is starting to pay dividends in Tampa’s all-Gabe platoon in right field.

But news on one current Ranger isn’t so good. Brandon McCarthy’s return from a stress fracture in his shoulder blade won’t be as easy as simply healing up and rejoining the team. He’s completely changing the way he pitches.