For some reason, Baseball Reference's preview says Mark Buerhle "has never faced" Tampa Bay. I'm left to assume that they're using a different interpretation of the verb "face" than is most commonly used in baseball, a literal definition. Mark Buehrle has never physically cut the face off his South Florida opponent and worn it like a mask Hannibal Lecter style in order to receive praise in the form of a hundreds of vigorously shaken cowbells.
Why is it that Tampa is considered South Florida? Is it an Everything South of I-80 is Southern Illinois situation? And if it's not, I could be wrong there, why the heck is it home to a university of that name? And how the heck did they lose to freakin' Wanny? And don't Palin me on these questions. I want real answers.
So anyway, there's a game tonight, a playoff game. You guys sure seem enthused. Allow me to fire you up.
For some reason this is considered a good matchup for the Sox. I mean, Kazmir is 3-1 with a 3.34 ERA in his career against the Sox, and he's allowed 3 runs across two starts against them this year. Oh and upon closer inspection, I've found, through top secret inside sources, that Mark Buehrle has had a bit of trouble in domes in the past. Plus he has a 4.24 ERA in 10 career starts against the D-Rays, including and 0-1 mark and 4.58 ERA with the dropped-D Rays. Sounds like a great matchup. Let's put this one in the 'W' column now.