Larry Ness
LEGEND Play-MLB (highest-rated play!)
My LEGEND Play is on the Chi White Sox at 2:05 ET. The Rays entered this big series with the White Sox having gone just 13-24 all-time in Chicago. However, as everyone knows by now, things a very different this year for the Rays! Tampa has won the first two games of this series 9-4 (Friday) and 5-3 (Saturday), to improve its overall record to a major league-best 79-49, while giving the team its biggest lead in the AL East all season (5 1/2 games over the Red Sox). Can the Rays now complete their first-ever sweep of the White Sox in Chicago? Why not, they've done seemingly everything else this year? However, I'm betting they don't! The pitching matcup is very interesting. Going for Tampa is second-year player Andy Sonnanstine, while Chicago counters with veteran lefty, Mark Buehrle. Sonnanstine is an interesting study. He went 6-10 with a 5.85 ERA last year in 22 starts (team was 7-15) but this year enters this game 13-6 with a 4.37 ERA in 25 starts. Despite owning the highest ERA of any of Tampa's five-man starting rotation, he's the team leader in wins and at plus-$894 vs the moneyline, is the team's second-biggest "money-maker" (Shields is plus-$938), as well as ranking 13th in all of MLB among starters. He's already faced the White Sox twice this season, posting a 1.84 ERA (he's 1-0 and the Rays won both games). However, winning again here, is too much to ask. Tampa's wins on Friday and Saturday give them 11 in its last 14 on the road but even that hot streak only has them 31-30 on the road for the year. In comparison, the White Sox entered this series on a six-game home winning streak and even with the back-to-back losses, the White Sox are 45-21 at U.S. Cellular Field this year, outscoring opponents 5.84-to-4.07 RPG. Against righties, they are 29-15 at home and that includes a superb 12-4 mark in day games, where they've averaged 6.94 RPG. Now let's get to Mark Buehrle. Buehrle became a regular part of Chicago's rotation back in 2001 and over a seven-year stretch (entering this year), won 103 games. He won at least 16 games in four of those seasons, with a single-season career high of 19 in 2002. He'll enter this game on a three-game winning streak, which leaves him 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA on the season. As he's been his whole career, Buehrle's been very good at home, going 8-3 with a 3.06 ERA in 13 starts (team is 10-3). Buehrle was Chicago's starteting pitcher in each of Sonnanstine two starts vs the White Sox this year and in Sonnanstine's only other start vs the White Sox (a 5-3 Chicago win at Tampa last year), was also Sonnanstine's opponent. This will be the first time Sonanstine has faced the White Sox in Chicago and he'll face a team desperate to avoid the dreaded home sweep and one with a crafty veteran on the mound. Chicago wins this one and it will be easy! LEGEND play on the Chi White Sox.
