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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 6, 2001
The game
WHERE: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg.
TV/RADIO: Fox Sports Net; WFLA-AM 970, WLCC-AM 760 (Spanish).
TICKETS: Available at stadium box office, through Ticketmaster phone and retail outlets and at team stores in WestShore Plaza, Brandon TownCenter and BayWalk.
INFO: Call 1-888-FAN-RAYS.
TONIGHT'S PROMOTION: The first 15,000 fans will receive a travel mug courtesy of Melitta, whose prize patrol will be distributing and awarding prizes throughout the game. Also, Rays players will greet fans at the Gate 1 rotunda entrance after batting practice.
Tanyon Sturtze
The Rays are 10-5 the past 15 times Sturtze (10-12, 4.47) has started. In his last outing, against the Red Sox on Monday, the Rays' top pitcher in wins went seven innings and allowed two runs.
This is the first start for Pettitte (15-10, 4.09) since he was struck on the elbow by a line drive against the Rays on Sept. 26. In his career, Pettitte is 7-1 with a 3.73 ERA against Tampa Bay.
Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki broke the record for singles in a season on Wednesday and had 191 through Thursday. The record of 187 was set by Rays batting coach Wade Boggs while with the Red Sox in 1985.
"Records are made to be broken," Boggs said. "In the age of the home run, now you've got a guy like Ichiro that has come over from a foreign country and has never played over here before and is having success. That's pretty remarkable."