(Best E Casino) - The Tampa Bay Rays have enjoyed a storybook 2008 campaign thus far, but the surprising club certainly didn't head into the All-Star break on a positive note.
The playoff-hopeful Rays return to action tonight hoping to break out of a season-long seven-game losing streak as the Toronto Blue Jays invade Tropicana Field for the first of three consecutive meetings.
The recent slide has enabled defending world champion Boston to pass Tampa in the American League East standings, with the Red Sox holding a slim half-game edge on the upstart Rays entering tonight's play. The Rays do own a 2 1/2-game advantage over their nearest competitor in the AL wild card race, the Minnesota Twins.
Playing in the friendly confines of Tropicana Field may be able to jumpstart the sluggish Rays, since the team is a stellar 36-14 as the host this season and has won 15 of its last 19 at home. Six of Tampa Bay's losses during its seven-game skid have come on the road.
James Shields has certainly enjoyed the home cooking as well this season, as the Tampa hurler has compiled a 5-1 record and an excellent 2.13 earned run average along with two shutouts in his 10 starts at the Trop during 2008. He'll be on the mound tonight to attempt to put his team back in the win column.
Shields had ripped off three straight winning starts before being tagged for five runs and 10 hits over six innings in a July 11 loss at Cleveland. The right-hander had allowed a total of only five runs and 13 hits over 20 1/3 innings of work in his three outings prior to that subpar showing.
The 26-year-old does own a 3-0 record and a 2.70 ERA in four career starts against Toronto, and beat the Blue Jays by giving up four runs -- two earned -- over seven solid innings back on April 22.
Toronto finds itself one game under .500 (47-48) for the season and in fourth place in the competitive AL East, but the team closed out its first half with a 5-1 homestand that included two wins in three tries against the New York Yankees.
A.J. Burnett lifted the Jays to a series win over New York with a sensational performance in last Sunday's finale. The erratic right-hander, who gets the call in tonight's opener, took a shutout into the ninth inning and finished one out away from a complete game in Toronto's 4-1 victory. He limited the Yankees to six hits and one walk while racking up eight strikeouts.
Burnett, who's been the subject of recent trade rumors as the July 31 deadline approaches, is 4-1 with a 3.79 ERA over his last five starts and recorded 36 strikeouts over 35 2/3 innings during that span.
The oft-injured veteran is 6-3 with a 3.21 ERA in 14 lifetime encounters with the Rays, but lost his only matchup against Tampa this season. That occurred in Toronto on May 6, with Burnett being touched for five runs but fanning 10 in a six-inning stint.
This will be the Blue Jays' first visit to Tropicana Field this season. The AL East foes did play a three-game series in Orlando back in April, with the Rays sweeping the set. Tampa Bay also took two of three tests from the Jays in Toronto from May 6-8.
