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.
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