The surrogate
It begins with a woman who yearns for a baby and another who is willing and able to give her one. You can imagine the motives of the prospective parents. But what about the woman willing to carry a baby, give birth and then walk away?
Friday Night Rewind It doesn't matter which team you cheer for. We've got video previews of every high school football program in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando County.
Rays tickets: $9-$210, available at Tropicana Field box office (no service charge), by phone (1-888-326-7297), all Ticketmaster outlets, and on raysbaseball.com; $2 surcharge for purchases within five hours of that day's game.
Watch for
Making it last: When Edwin Jackson lasts at least six innings, the Rays are 9-4. When Jackson doesn't, they are 4-7. A good sign? Jackson has a staff-best 3.28 ERA on the road.
Rough on Rays: White Sox starter John Danks has six wins in his past seven decisions. He has been especially tough against Tampa Bay this season (2-0 with a .069 ERA, 16 strikeouts, one walk).
Tough matchups: White Sox slugger Jim Thome, above, is 5-for-7 with a homer against Jackson; Carlos Pena is just 1-for-7 against Danks, and Akinori Iwamura is 2-for-8.
On deck
Saturday: at White Sox, 3:55, Ch. 13. Rays — LHP Scott Kazmir (9-6, 3.21); White Sox — RHP Javier Vazquez (10-10, 4.34)
Sunday: at White Sox, 2:05, Ch. 66/TBS. Rays — RHP Andy Sonnanstine (13-6, 4.37); White Sox — LHP Mark Buehrle (11-10, 3.91)
By the numbers
Rays after 126 games
199849-77
199956-70
200055-71
200145-81
200242-84
200351-75
200458-68
200551-75
200748-78
200877-49
Home/road: 47-18/30-31
Day/night: 20-14/57-35
Grass/turf: 28-28/49-20
vs. East: 28-19
vs. Central: 15-12
vs. West: 22-12
vs. RH/LH starters: 57-31/20-18
Record when committing an error: 23-27
Ahead after 6-7-8: 57-4/ 60-4/67-0
Behind after 6-7-8: 8-39/ 6-41/2-40
Tied after 6-7-8: 12-4/ 11-3/8-7
1-run games: 23-14
2-run games: 18-5
Extra innings: 8-4
Win in last at-bat: 16-9
Come-from-behind wins: 35
Come-from-ahead losses: 18
When hitting homer: 62-24
Scoring first: 51-15
Joe Smith, Times staff writer
Number of the day I
11-5 Rays record in their last 16 road games, after going 19-26 in the first 45
Number of the day II
20 Of the Rays final 36 games are on the road
Quote of the day
"He's becoming a pitcher; he's not just a position player who throws."
James Shields, Rays right-hander, on the growth of tonight's starter Edwin Jackson, left, who was originally drafted as an outfielder and was 3-12 with a 5.69 a year ago today
Magic number
32
Number of Tampa Bay wins and Boston losses for Rays to win AL East.
[Last modified: Aug 22, 2008 09:34 AM]
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