Roberto, Not Fausto Carmona – Lineups 4/26

The artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona pitches against the White Sox tonight for the first time since resuming his true identity of Roberto Hernandez. As Carmona, he’s best remembered to me as the man who created what may have been the high point of the 2011 season. A 3 inning 10 run performance paved the way for a big Opening Day as the shiny new DH Adam Dunn went yard and started the White Sox off 0-1. That balloon deflated rather quickly, but I’d rather not dwell on the “season” that was 2011, those days are passed. Now we have Roberto Hernandez, a man that’s made 4 starts for the Tampa Bay Rays so far this season with the main consistency being his ability to strike out batters, which he’s done at a rate of more than a batter per inning. Run prevention is yet to be a priority, though in his most recent start he allowed just a single run in 6 innings of work to defeat the A’s.

Jake Peavy has pitched brilliantly in three out of four starts and has completed 7 innings in each of his last two while striking out a total of 10 batters. That’s a lot of missed bats. Nearly a third of all batters that step up to the plate against Jake this year have turned tail and headed back to the dugout with another K next their name in the scorebook. There’s definitely room for normalization, as both his 32.4% strikeout rate and 4.9% walk rate would represent career bests for him. Lack of run support was a theme for Peavy’s outings in 2012, and the subject has already reared its ugly head early this season. One run allowed in his last start against the Twins was enough for a no-decision and team loss.

Today’s Lineup:

1.De Aza – LF
2.Greene – 2B
3.Rios – RF
4.Dunn – DH
5.Konerko – 1B
6.Conor Gillaspie – 3B
7.Alexei – SS
8.Gimenez – C
9.Wise – CF

A day after a relatively easy win that saw Jeff Keppinger raise his average above the Mendoza, he’ll sit with back spasms, allowing Tyler Greene an opportunity to get creepy again. Adam Dunn, however, is rewarded for pushing his average out of Bingo range with another start. Hector Gimenez is alive and well after taking a shot to the shin days ago and is spelling Tyler Flowers for the evening.

Tampa Bay Rays Lineup:

1.Matt Joyce – RF
2.Ryan Roberts – 2B
3.Ben Zobrist – SS
4.Evan Longoria – 3B
5.James Loney – 1B
6.Sean Rodriguez – LF
7.Kelly Johnson – DH
8.Jose Molina – C
9.Sam Fuld – CF

Yunel Escobar continues to sit with a hamstring injury and Desmond Jennnings gets a night off in order to further grow the legend of Sam Fuld. According to Rays Marc Topkin, Matt Joyce is getting the look at leadoff in an effort to get him hot at the plate.

Where to Watch
Today’s White Sox game will be shown on WCIU for the Chicago area and will be broadcast on Sun Sports for the Tampa area viewers. 7:10 Central start time.

Schedule