Game Info:
Date: Friday, April 28rd, 2006
First Pitch: 7:15 ET
TV: NESN
Radio: WEEI 850
Starting Pitchers:
http://i.a.cnn.net/si/images/baseball/mlb/players/6099.jpg VS. http://i.a.cnn.net/si/images/baseball/mlb/players/6772.jpg
BOS: RHP Matt Clement (2-1, 6.17 ERA)
Clement grinded through his last start, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing seven hits and two earned runs while earning the win over the Blue Jays. Clement faced the Devil Rays at Fenway Park on April 18, allowing three runs over seven innings and taking a no-decision.
TB: LHP Casey Fossum (0-1, 7.77 ERA)
Fossum pitched well on May 18 against the Red Sox when he allowed just two earned runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings to pick up a no-decision. He has a 3.80 ERA in five career appearances against Boston.
Preview:
For the first time since a Carl Crawford line drive knocked him right to a local hospital, Red Sox right-hander Matt Clement will step back on to the pitcher's mound of Tropicana Field on Friday night and pitch against the Devil Rays.
That scary night of July 26, 2005, Crawford's drive smacked Clement just above the right ear. Fortunately, the pitcher was not seriously hurt, but that doesn't mean the incident doesn't linger at least a little bit.
"For me to sit here and say I don't think about it, or that it doesn't ever come up in my mind, I'd be lying," said Clement. "The best way I can describe it is, it's like a car wreck. You don't think about a car wreck every day, but every once in a while, it's going to pop into your mind and you're going to remember it."
Clement also remembers what a classy individual Crawford was when they met on the Fenway Park field late last season.
"He was real polite and a nice, young guy," Clement said. "He's an exciting player for baseball. He sent his best to me. He was very polite about it."
Clement's foremost concern entering this start won't be to erase a bad memory, but to get his team back on a winning track. The Red Sox have lost four of their first six games on this nine-game road trip and are coming off a 15-3 loss to the Guardians on Thursday night.
The Devil Rays send left-hander Casey Fossum to the mound.