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Aug 13, 2009 - 6:53 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Toronto (54-59) at Tampa Bay (61-53), 7:38 p.m. EDT

Not many teams returning home after a 1-5 road trip would want to face Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, but the Tampa Bay Rays may not find it so disheartening a proposition.

The Rays will try to win for the fourth time in as many games against Halladay this year when they open a three-game set Friday night.

Tampa Bay (61-53) is in third place in the AL wild card race after losing the final four games on its road trip, including all three against the Los Angeles Angels.

Manager Joe Maddon was at a loss to explain his club's poor play after a 10-5 loss on Wednesday.

"We go home and we get ourselves well, then we go away and we get sick again," he said. "We've got to figure that out."

Tampa Bay is 36-18 at home this year for the second-best mark in the majors, and has won 20 of its last 26. This nine-game homestand begins against Halladay (12-5, 2.73 ERA), who is 0-2 with a 2.45 ERA against the Rays in three starts this season.

Tampa Bay starters are 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA in those outings.

James Shields (7-8, 3.79) will become the fourth different Rays starter to square off against Halladay in the series opener.

"This guy is the best pitcher in baseball as far as I'm concerned," Shields told the Rays' official Web site. "But he's in our league. That's what makes our league the toughest league in baseball."

Halladay has 25 strikeouts over 22 innings against Tampa Bay this year, with Carlos Pena and B.J. Upton each going 2 for 10 and combining for nine strikeouts. Carl Crawford is 4 for 10 against Halladay this year, and hitting .311 off the right-hander in his career.

The 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner was victorious in his first four road starts, but is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA in five road outings since. Toronto has supported him with a total of 17 runs in that span.

Halladay won Sunday against Baltimore after allowing three runs over eight innings in a 7-3 victory.

While Halladay has been victimized by poor run support, it's a problem that has plagued Shields as well. The Rays have scored three runs or fewer in 14 of his starts.

Shields, however, was the only pitcher to win on the Rays' swing as he yielded four runs over 5 1-3 innings Saturday and got plenty of help from his lineup in a 10-4 victory at Seattle.

The right-hander is 0-3 with a 3.72 ERA in his last five starts against the Blue Jays after going 4-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his first five.

Tampa Bay is 7-2 this year against Toronto (54-59). Second baseman Ben Zobrist is 12 for 27 with nine walks and seven runs scored in those games.

The Blue Jays have lost five straight and 12 of 14 at Tropicana Field.