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Rays-Angels Preview

Aug 10, 2009 - 1:53 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Tampa Bay (61-49) at Los Angeles (65-43), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The first leg of the Tampa Bay Rays' West Coast trip didn't go as planned. The road stretch may not get any easier as they head to a ballpark where they haven't won a series in more than 10 years.

The Rays will have to change their fortunes in Anaheim if they hope to make up ground in the wild card race as they take on the Los Angeles Angels starting Monday night.

With wild card-leading Boston struggling, the Rays (61-50) had an opportunity to draw closer this weekend in Seattle. They failed to do so, dropping two of three and falling to 25-32 on the road.

"We lost that first game, came back (Saturday) and got blown out (Sunday)," manager Joe Maddon told the Rays' official Web site after his team's 11-2 loss in the finale. "We just have to be better than that. There is no getting around it."

Maddon's team has rarely been good in Anaheim. Tampa Bay has not won a series there since May 14-16, 1999, going 8-34 since.

Most of those losses came when the Rays were a last-place team, but they dropped two of three at Angel Stadium last season before going on to win their first AL pennant.

They should at least feel good about handing the ball to Matt Garza. The right-hander's last road start was a nine-inning, two-run effort against Toronto on July 24, with the Rays winning 4-2 in 10 innings.

Opponents are hitting .195 against Garza (7-8, 3.63 ERA) in his last three starts, and he allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings versus Boston on Tuesday. The Rays went on to win 4-2 in 13 innings.

The Angels will counter with Sean O'Sullivan (3-1, 4.24), who looks to rebound from his first career loss. On the day he was recalled from the minors for the fourth time this year, the rookie right-hander allowed four runs in five-plus innings of a 6-2 defeat to Chicago on Wednesday.

"I thought he did good enough to get a win out of it," Angels catcher Mike Napoli told the team's official Web site. "He's definitely a guy who's not scared to be out there. I have a good feeling with him on the mound. I'm confident he's going to give us a good effort - good command, good mound presence."

O'Sullivan had pitched a no-hitter for Triple-A Salt Lake in his previous start July 28.

The Angels (65-44) will try to get him more run support than they did last time, but they were shut down by Texas' Derek Holland on Sunday. Los Angeles managed as many hits - three - as errors in a 7-0 loss.

After averaging nearly eight runs while going 17-3 from July 10-Aug. 2, the Angels have been held to barely half that while dropping four of six. Vladimir Guerrero has hit in all six games since being activated from the disabled list, but fellow outfielder Torii Hunter remains out.

Los Angeles dropped two of three to the Rangers as its division lead slipped to 3 1/2 games, but another series against an AL East opponent could be just what it needs. The Angels are 17-9 against that division this year - 11-4 at home.

The Angels, however, dropped two of three in St. Petersburg from June 9-11. Los Angeles allowed seven home runs in the series.