Article:Dead Soxy: TEX@BOS Preview (4/18-4/21) (Updated 4/20)

Texas Rangers (7-9, 4th in AL West) AT Boston Red Sox (10-7, 1st in AL East)

Fresh off a split with the rival New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox head home to Fenway Park and welcome in the Texas Rangers for a four-game set over the weekend. The Rangers come in having just swept the Toronto Blue Jays in a short two-game set, and are hoping to get their pitching on track for the first time in, well, just about ever. The Red Sox also hope their pitching holds on, as it was anything but reliable against the Yankees, but their offense is looking quite strong despite the worst slump of David Ortiz's career. Manny Ramirez has been absolutely on fire for the beginning of his contract year, and just passed two legends (The Iron Horse and The Crime Dog) on the all-time home run list. For the Rangers, Josh Hamilton has been their offensive star thus far, leading or tied for the team lead in HR, RBI, AVG, and SLG. Let's look at the two teams' top performers by WPA in the young season, and then look more closely at each of the four pitching match-ups.

WPA Leaders

Boston: Ramirez, +1.93 * ; Matsuzaka, +0.70; Papelbon, +0.85

Texas: Hamilton, +0.88; Millwood, +0.41; Wilson, +0.77

( * -- leads the majors)

Luis Mendoza was traded to the Rangers from the Red Sox in 2006 for reliever Brian Corey, and this is his first appearance against his former club. He had a strong showing in AA-ball last season (15-4, 3.93), and had a decent first start, taking the loss against Toronto's Roy Halladay. He allowed only 1 run in 5 innings, but struggled with his command (he hit two batters and walked three). He's scouted as a ground-ball pitcher, which is always a good sign for pitching both at Fenway Park and at the Launch Pad at Arlington. However, if he doesn't maintain his control, it's going to be a short outing against the uber-patient Red Sox, whom he has never faced.

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been hands-down the best Boston pitcher so far, landing at the 10th spot in the majors for total WPA so far this season, and is tied for second for strikeouts behind only Jake Peavy and notching them at over 1 per inning pitched. However, his walks are up (he's had more than 4 walks in three of his four starts this season), and to contrast with his opponent his GB/FB ratio is an unhealthy 0.71. Despite these negative indicators, he's worked around a good deal of trouble, allowing multiple runs to score in only two innings thus far (and one of those innings was the very first inning of the season). Matsuzaka appeared once against Texas last season, getting rocked a bit but taking the win in a 5-inning, 5-run outing. Frank Catalanotto did the most damage of any one player, hitting a 2-run home run in that game off of Dice-K.

''That's it for now, I won't be able to write more before tonight's game. But the rest of the preview will be up before tomorrow's meeting! -- Salty''