ALDS Game 1: Matt Moore Brilliant, Kelly Shoppach Surprising In 9-0 Rays Win

Along the way, the Baseball Nation staff live-blogged the matchup, narrating the twists and turns of Game 1. Here are a few of the highlights.

Game 1 started off slowly enough, with both pitchers recording scoreless first innings. Texas starter C.J. Wilson probably had the better inning, and it may have been the best part of his night.

Things are going well for Tampa Bay.

Things are going freaky well for Tampa Bay.

After 8½ innings, the Rangers are no longer trying to win.

Not really. Not down 9-0.

Having thrown only 81 pitches in six innings, Rays rookie Matt Moore has returned to the mound for the bottom of the seventh.

Moore, who pitched in only three major-league games before today, is just the third pitcher in major-league history to pitch in a postseason game with three or fewer games of major-league experience. And neither of the previous two — Ken Brett in 1967 and Charlie Leibrandt in 1979 — made a postseason start.

Two things that didn’t seem to go together, coming into Game 1:

and

Matt Moore has pitched four shutout innings.

This is notable for at least three reasons.

If I were to have dinner with one manager in Major League Baseball, it would be Jesus and Albert Einstein. Wait, what was the question?

No, if I were to have dinner with one manager in Major League Baseball, it would be Joe Maddon. Seems like a bright, interesting guy who could talk about baseball for hours without boring you. He’s the rare combination of a guy who can command the respect of both athletes in the clubhouses, and analysts in their gilded palaces of smug.

Matt Moore is a 22-year-old rookie with nine innings of major-league experience before tonight. Has anyone mentioned this? Watching him mow through the Rangers in the first two innings, though, it’s worth wondering if there would have been an exciting Game 162 if he were in the rotation earlier for the Rays.

Moore has two strikeouts through two innings, ringing up Elvis Andrus on a grubby slider in the first inning, and then getting Nelson Cruz in the second with a 96-mph fastball up and out of the zone. His fastball has ranged from 93 to 97, but more importantly, he’s thrown strikes. If he had a weakness in the minors earlier in his career, it was his control. But he came a long ways this year.

Then Joyce grounded a single into right field, easily scoring Shoppach.

Now we’re well underway, as both starting pitchers turned in scoreless first frames.

C.J. Wilson was arguably twice as good as Matt Moore, though, as Wilson needed only nine pitches to dispatch the Rays in order, while Moore needed 18 pitches, in part because of Josh Hamilton’s single to left field.

Of course, they could always re-sign Wilson. If I were a betting man, that’s what I’d guess would happen.

Okay, you’ve seen the lineups and you’ve read about Matt Moore.

So what do you think?

Via Richard Durrett, we’ve got Ron Washington’s Texas Rangers lineup for Game 1 of their Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, scheduled for a 4:07 Central Time first pitch this afternoon.

Gentry’s almost certainly a better fit in center field than left; he’s started just one game in left field all season. But Ron Washington reportedly told Hamilton he’ll be in center field throughout the postseason, and doesn’t want to mess with Hamilton’s head now.

Prior to this season, Moore had led the minors in strikeouts two years running, but hadn’t pitched above High-A. There was a lot more to love than not, as his fastball lived in the mid-90s, and his curve, as described by BP’s Kevin Goldstein, was a “plus power curveball with heavy late break,” but his command would occasionally vanish thanks to inconsistent mechanics. Still, it’s hard to complain about a pitcher who’d struck out 384 batters in his last 267 innings.

Moore kept things going at Double-A, striking out 131 batters in 102 innings and 18 starts. That came against just 28 walks, too, giving Moore a 4.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio, easily his best at any level, and helping to reassure those that were worried about his mechanics that he had this thing under control. ESPN’s Keith Law bumped Moore from #16 to #2 in his mid-season prospect rankings, and Goldstein moved him from 10 to 2.

It should be interesting to see if the Rays are able to build on the momentum they ended the regular season with after narrowly squeaking into postseason in what was one of the most spectacular days of baseball -- ever. They only had one day to refocus their efforts before heading to Texas, though, so that could also play a part in the opening game of the MLB Playoffs.

For a Beyond the Boxscore perspective of the game, be sure to check out Bill Petti’s preview of the game. To join in the discussion, it would also make sense to check out our Tampa Bay Rays blog DRaysBay as well as the always excellent Rangers blog Lone Star Ball.

Rays name Moore and Shields to start Games 1 and 2

Moore is one of the best prospects in the game, and, according to Kevin Goldstein, has some of the easiest upper-90s velocity in the game. Still, he’s only made one start in the majors.