The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox by a score of 2-1. However, the victory was not the story.

The matchup between Clay Buchholz and Jeremy Hellickson lived up to it’s billing. Tampa would draw first blood in the bottom of the second, as Carlos Pena led off the frame with a single. Luke Scott was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second. After Sean Rodriguez grounded into a double play, Will Rhymes walked, giving the Rays runners at the corners. Buchholz was called for a balk, scoring Pena and giving the Rays a 1-0 lead.

That lead held up until the top of the fourth inning. With two out, Jarrod Saltalamacchia laced a double to deep right. Cody Ross followed with a four pitch walk, bringing up Daniel Nava. Nava continued his hot streak with a base hit to center, scoring Saltalamacchia and tying the game at 1-1. Nava and Ross moved up to second and third respectively on the throw home, but were stranded as Hellickson got Mike Aviles to ground out to end the inning.

Tampa would strike back in the bottom of the sixth inning. Matt Joyce led off the inning with a base hit off of Buccholz’s ankle. He remained in the game to pitch to Pena, who got singled to right, placing runners at the corners. Andrew Miller came in, and got Luke Scott to hit a fly ball to shallow right. Cody Ross misjudged the ball, stumbling over to make the catch and allowing Joyce to score, giving the Rays a 2-1 lead. The Rays loaded the bases with two out, but Miller was able to strike out Elliot Johnson to end the threat.

Hellickson came out after the sixth, allowing only 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6 batters. The Rays bullpen held the Sox the rest of the way, allowing only two singles over the final three innings.

This victory, however, was marred by a frightening incident in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two out and a runner on second, Will Rhymes was drilled in the arm by a Franklin Morales fastball. He made it down to first base before motioning to leave the game, and collapsing into first base coach George Hendrick. After several minutes, Rhymes was carted off the field to the clubhouse. Thankfully, he appears to have suffered nothing more than a bad bruise, and was joking in the clubhouse after the game. X-Rays have ruled out any sort of fracture, and Rhymes said he passed out due to a rush of adrenaline.

With the win, the Rays will retain at least a share of the American League East division lead, pending the outcome of the Royals-Orioles matchup.

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He was signed by the Rays as a minor league free agent in 1996, approximately a month after being released by the New York Yankees. He was converted from shortstop to a pitcher by the Rays due to his strong arm. Pitching primarily as a reliever, he moved up through the system fairly quickly, reaching AAA by 2000. Zambrano had a good arm, striking out roughly a batter per inning, but he also had control issues, as he would walk more than 4 batters per inning. He also allowed over a hit per inning, showing that his lower ERA totals were probably unsustainable.

Regardless, the Rays were in love with his stuff, particularly his great changeup. He appeared to have put everything together in 2001 as the closer for Durham, putting together a 1-2 record with a 2.08 ERA in 29 games. Most importantly, he only gave up 26 hits and 12 walks in 30.1 innings while striking out 29 batters. Promoted to the Rays, he made his debut on June 21. In his rookie season, he appeared in 36 games, putting together a 6-2 record with a 3.16 ERA. Over his 51.1 innings, he only permited 38 hits and walked only 18, while striking out 58 batters.

That would be the pinnacle for Zambrano. He pitched well in AAA to start the 2002 season, finally reaching the majors for good. He split his time between starting and relieving, appearing in 42 games with 11 starts. The control issues began to crop up again, as in his 114 innings pitched, he walked 68 batters and gave up 120 hits. Most alarming, however, was his decreasing strikeout rate, as he only struck out 73 batters. He managed to finish with an 8-8 record, despite a 5.53 ERA.

2003 found Zambrano primarily as a starter, and his control continued to worsen. He ended the year with a 12-10 record, and lowered his ERA to 4.21. However, the positives ended there, as he ended up with a pitching Triple Crown that few would covet, leading the American League in walks (106), wild pitches (15), and hit batters (20). He did give up less than a hit per inning, and struck out 132 batters, helping to minimize the damage.

The 2004 season was much of the same. By July 30, he had a 9-7 record, with an almost exactly league average ERA of 4.43. He was also leading the league in walks, hit batsmen, and wild pitches again, when he was sent to the Mets for top pitching prospect Scott Kazmir. Zambrano actually pitched well for the Mets in the three games he played, going 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA, before missing the last two months of the season with an elbow injury.

In 2005, Zambrano continued his tightrope act, to the tune of a 7-12 record and a 4.17 ERA. His control improved, but his strikeout rate declined as a result of the injury the previous year. In 2006, Zambrano sprinted off the mound just 1.1 innings into his fifth start of the year, holding his elbow. Diagnosed with a torn flexor tendon, it was also discovered that he had a torn elbow ligament as well during the surgery. He underwent Tommy John surgery, effectively ending his major league career.

Zambrano bounced around the minors and the Mexican league afterward, making his final major league appearances in the 2007 season for the Blue Jays and the Orioles. Even if the trade did not work out as anticipated for the Mets, was the trade really as much of a success for the Rays as people thought? Kazmir was a top prospect with a live arm, leading the American League in strikeouts in 2007 and making two All-Star teams (2006 and 2008). However, he had control problems of his own, and has completely flamed out by age 27. The Mets felt that Zambrano was not as bad a pitcher as people felt, and that Kazmir was overrated. In the end, the Mets may have been correct.

Victor Zambrano provided the Rays with their second true ace starter, after Rolando Arroyo in 1998. While he was never great, he also was not as bad as people remember him to be. He was simply a serviceable back of the rotation pitcher, who the Rays managed to flip at the peak of his value.

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Robbie Knopf: The Red Sox have rebounded from 9 losses in 10 games to win 5 in a row against the Indians and Mariners. Are the Red Sox finally started to hit their stride?

Derek Skytalo: The Sox are playing better baseball and are doing so by having solid pitching in sync with their offense.  Some say the Indians were playing over their head and that losing three in a row to Boston was a reality check for them.  I disagree.  I think Cleveland has the foundation to be a good team and for Boston to take three of four is a testament to perhaps having this club turn the corner. It looks like they are hitting their stride but the real test comes over the next two weeks with two series against Tampa and throw in Baltimore, the Phillies and Tigers, we’ll see if this Red Sox club is for real if they can compete and win some of the upcoming series.

Being the optimist that I am I think they will win some of these series as the starting pitching has improved dramatically, the bullpen is lights out (which is hard to believe given the start of the season) and the offense is getting production from different players on any given night.

RK: Will Middlebrooks has been outstanding since coming up and has already slammed 4 home runs in 11 games (double as many as Adrian Gonzalez in less than a third of the games). Just how good as Middlebrooks been and how exciting are you about his potential? Will he be be in the big leagues to stay?

DS: This kid is the future third baseman for the Red Sox for a reason and we are seeing why during his presence with the big club.  He’s showing tremendous power as evidenced by collecting an extra base hit in his first five games in the majors and as you mentioned the 4 home runs, the first of which was a grand slam.  His defense needs a little spit and polish but he certainly has better range than Youkilis at the hot corner.

As if Sox fans didn’t have enough to debate over, the big question now is what to do with Middlebrooks when Youkilis returns, which is going to be sooner than later given he’s starting in triple-A tonight.  Youkilis won’t be back next year with a team option for $13 million so it will remain to be seen if the club trades him soon or at the July deadline.  It’s hard to fathom having to send Middlebrooks to Pawtucket based on how well he’s played and there might be a riot on Yawkey Way if that did happen. The fans have taken to this kid that much.  The problem lies on getting a team to take Youkilis without proving he’s healthy.  The only way that can happen is to bring him back from the DL and have him play on a regular basis.  The next problem then is what do they do with Middlebrooks?  The outfield is not an option and neither is any other infield position as he’s only ever played third base.  I’m glad I’m not having to make this decision.

RK: The Red Sox’ rotation has not exactly impressed, posting a 5.24 ERA (even when excluded Aaron Cook‘s disaster of a start). The two guys Red Sox fans have to be worried about are Clay Buchholz, who had an 8.23 ERA with more walks than strikeouts and a ton of homers allowed as well (7.43 FIP), and Josh Beckett, who had a 5.97 ERA and a similar 6.03 FIP entering Tuesday thanks to a ton of homers allowed as well. And then there was the incident where he was scratched from a start and played golf the next day. Their xFIPs have been quite a bit better (4.90 and 4.33 respectively), but still not what we expected from pitchers of their caliber. How concerned about you about them and about the Red Sox rotation in general?

DS: It’s hard to believe that the Sox rotation is in this type of mess.  But there is promise on the horizon given the last outings by Jon Lester, Felix Doubront, Daniel Bard and Buchholz.  Even though it was the first good outing from Buchholz, he did show flashes of his old repertoire, one that can get him out of trouble. His ERA is subject to debate as he’s been victim to Bobby Valentine’s slow hook with his pitchers, allowing Buchholz to face one, sometimes two too many batters.  The result is a John Lackey ERA.  With that argument aside, his mechanics have not been good.  I don’t know if his back is still bothering him or he’s afraid to re-injure it, but he hasn’t been getting his fastball down and balls are flying out of parks at an alarming rate.  Buchholz did buy himself more time with his last start, but with Aaron Cook and Dice-K closing in on returning, another falter from Buchholz could see him spending some time in triple-A to work out the kinks.

As I touched on briefly, the other three starters appear to be rounding into form.  Felix Doubront only gave up 3 hits over 6 innings his last time out, Bard was better, but still needs to work on his control and Lester is coming off a complete game; promising to say the least.  At least until you get to Mr. Ego – Josh Beckett.

I left him for last.  I’m not sure if you have a limit when it comes to how long you want the answers to be so I’ll try not to write a short story.  Given the antics from Beckett, one could go on for pages. In short, he’s a walking circus.  He doesn’t give a hoot about what you or anyone else thinks and he’ll tell you that.  The problem is, is that his last start was a complete joke when he couldn’t get out of the third inning.  Personally I don’t care that he went golfing, I’m just so sick of all the off-field BS that surrounds this team, I just want to focus on baseball.  It is worth noting that his four previous starts to his last one he threw four quality starts.  So while his numbers are higher than normal there is a silver lining to this cloud.  His ERA is high and he hasn’t missed many bats lately, but this team needs him to pitch well if they have any chance to contend, which I think they can.  If he can have a good start against Seattle it will quiet the mob for a while. If he goes out and throws meatballs for three innings, he better enlist in the witness protection program or he’ll be on the first duck boat out of Boston. (Update: Beckett tossed 7 shutout innings against the Mariners on Tuesday, striking out 9 while walking 2.) Fans want him traded, even sent to the minors but in reality a trade is going to be more difficult than what some want to believe.  If the Sox struggle and are seemingly out of the running come late July, maybe a market develops for a guy who has a 1.16 ERA and a 0.846 WHIP in three World Series games.

Overall, the success of the Red Sox this season rests on the two guys you mentioned; Buchholz and Beckett.  If both struggle replacing them with Aaron Cook and Daisuke Matsuzaka will not stop the bleeding, so both need to figure out what’s going on and straighten it out.  Personally, I think they will, I just hope it’s sooner than later.

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We’d like to thank Derek for answering our questions, and I also answered a few of Derek’s questions about the Rays for Bosox Injection, which you can find here. This should be a fun Rays-Red Sox series, and after the Red Sox took 3 of 4 versus the Rays last time around at Fenway Park, hopefully the Rays can continue their outstanding home performance by taking 2 of 2 versus the Red Sox over the next couple of days.

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