May 31 - June 2, Rays @ Indians Series Preview

(29-24) Tampa Bay Rays @ Cleveland Indians (29-24)

Probable Starters:

Game 1: 7:05 PM | Matt Moore (8-0); 2.21 ERA vs Corey Kluber (3-3); 4.57 ERA

Game 2: 1:05 PM | Chris Archer (0-0); 0.00 ERA vs Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3); 5.57 ERA

Game 3: 1:05 PM | Jeremy Hellickson (2-2); 5.61 ERA vs Zach McAlister (4-4) 3.08 ERA

How they got here:

Manager, Terry Francona leads the Indians
against the Rays for a three-game set.

The Tribe have hit a bit of a skid in the road, losing seven of their last ten.  The Tribe, however, have won the last two in a home sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. Before that stretch, they had a time where they had won 18 of 22 and looked like one of the hottest teams in baseball. The offensive production has still been leading the team and the starting pitching has been surprisingly good.  The weak spot is the bullpen in the last 10 days and that can be attributed to injuries.  Can the Tribe continue the winning streak? We'll see!

The Rays come into this series with the same record that the Tribe have, but they haven't been as hailed in the national media because they are currently in third place in the stacked AL-East. Tampa Bay has a very potent offense and with the emergence of young starting pitcher Matt Moore, they've had a lot of luck playing some winning baseball. The team is currently on a five-game winning streak, although you must remember that four of the five games were against the awful Miami Marlins. The Rays have won nine of their last 13 and hope to continue their winning ways against the Tribe.

Season rankings: (ML-ranking)

Runs Scored: 

Cleveland 264 (4th) 

TB 262 (5th)

Runs Allowed:

Cleveland 236 (19th) 

TB 242 (26th)

Batting Average:

Cleveland .263 (8th)

TB .260 (11th)

Fun stat: This series' fun stat isn't so much fun. The Indians face eight series out of their next 11 against teams who have a record above .500.  In the second half after the all star break? They face only eight of 27 teams with above .500 records. Let's see if they can hang around up to the all-star break!

Impact players for the series:

Cleveland:Asdrubal Cabrera-

Cabby is finally coming around this year. He has raised his batting average of .260 and seems to be on a tear as of late. Hitting .333 over his past seven days. Cabrera 0-for-11 against Tampa Bay the first time around, but don't expect this veteran to continue to slump against the Rays. He has been a better hitter the last couple weeks after having a very slow start to the season.

Honorable mention: Yan Gomes

Tampa Bay: Matt Moore-

Moore has been unbelievable this season and has not taken a losing decision yet. He is 8-0 with an ERA under three. The Rays offense is certainly going to play a factor too, but if Moore can do what he has been doing and limit the Tribe, the Rays can take game 1 and carry some much needed momentum into the rest of the series.

Keys for the series:

1. Get back to the winning ways: The Indians have won two straight over a very good Reds team, but can the offense keep it going? The Tribe are only behind Detroit by a half game and if they put together a good weekend series, they have a very good chance to get back into first place by the end of the weekend. The Tigers are taking on Chris Davis and a very very good Baltimore team over the weekend, this is a chance to make up some more ground.

Ubaldo Jimenez starts game 2 of the series

2. Don't abuse the bullpen : Over the past couple seasons, the bullpen has been able to make up for weak starting pitching. Right now, the starting rotation is going to have to pick up the bullpen and give 6-7 solid innings from each of these guys. The Tribe's most durable arm, Justin Masterson will not be throwing in the series, but between a recently hot Kluber, McAlister and Jimenez, the Indians need low pitch counts and some quality outings.

3. Enjoy that home cooking: The Indians have seemed to channel a little magic at home this season. The Tribe have gone 17-10 at home while tallying a 12-14 mark on the road.  The Rays are a tough opponent, but the Indians have really been scoring well at home lately, notching 41 runs in their last eight home games (just above 5 runs per game).  If the Indians keep up this Progressive Field magic, then two out of three in this series is possible.

Next series: @ New York Yankees, Mon-Fri.

Here are some links for the day! Don't forget to check out these other stories:

Check out what our writers' opinions are on the state of the team and chime in as well with our Friday Roundtable.

Game reviews for the past two victories over Cincinnati are here and here.

Jason Giambi has been heating it up lately, hitting two home runs in his past two games, check out why Why Giambi Matters   in a great opinion article by Jacob Mowery.

Also, be ready for new opinion articles this week.  We also have the AL Central round up, injury reports and much much more here on your favorite site for Cleveland Indians news and analysis!

Staff predictions:

Jimmy F.  Tribe takes two of three.

Danny W.  Two of three. Shell Moore tonight and then get stymied by the rookie.

Jacob M. :  I think the Tribe will take two out of three. We most likely won't stop Moore tonight, but The Big U will beat the rookie Chris Archer, and McAllister will be his consistant-self and out-duel Jeremy Hellickson.

Cody W.