Trying again ....

Having lost 10 in a row, the Rays will try to snap their streak tonight in Boston, but it won't be easy against 11 game winner Josh Beckett.
Manager Joe Maddon is going what what now appears to be his regular lineup, though Greg Norton dropped down a spot:
Iwamura, 3b
Crawford, lf
Harris, ss
Pena, 1b
Wigginton, 2b
Norton, dh
Young, cf
Gomes, rf
Navarro, c
Howell, p

Comments

[REB]

TONIGHTS LINEUP ... LEFTY / RIGHTY STYLE LOOKS GOOD BUT I'D LIKE MORE OF CASANOVA'S BAT UNTIL HE LOSES THE TOUCH ** JASO THE BISCUITS [C] HAS A PRETTY HOT BAT HIMSELF ** WELL HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS ** THE RAYS BULLPEN HAVE NOT ALLOWED A RUN VS BOSTON IN 2 GAMES ** GOOD CHANCE THEY WILL FAULTER IN GAME 3 TONIGHT ** OH WELL !! HEY,WE CAN BEAT THE ROYALS ... I THINK !!!!

[Bill]

Why does he play Norton? He's done nothing........Cantu has done it over a season.......give him the AB's.......please!

[TonyC]

Boston is up 9-2 in the 3rd inning. hard to believe this year's Rays are an improvement over the '06 version which split the season matchups with the Red Sox.

P.S.: Please dump Maddon.

[josh]

the best part of tonights game? the fact that Maddon can no longer inexplicably trot out Dioner Navarro as the starting cathcer for the next few days, hopefully. Casanova has more homers and almost as many rbis, not to mention a MUCH higher BA, all in a fraction of the time that Navarro has played. Sure he's a bit shakier defensively, but not much.

[J]

Instead of watching these same players preform at minor league levels, why not bring up some talent to see if they can do better? How about this: Kazmir, Shields, Niemann, Christopher Mason and Edwin Jackson as starters. Dale Thayer, Seth McClung, Brian Henderson, Scott Dohmann, Glover, Camp and Witasik in the pen. Release Fossum. Option out Hammel, Howell, Sonnenstine, Stokes and Switzer---these guys just can not get outs in MLB at this point. Option Navarro, and bring up John Jaso---he may be special. Same with Evan Longoria, he has proven he can play anywhere---why not now in St. Pete? Break him in now! Trade Pena, Wigginton and Norton while you can still get something valuable for them. Be sure to get some ML ready young relief pitchers that can get outs---no more soft-tossers, please. Iwamura 3B, Harris SS, Crawford LF, Gomes RF, Cantu DH, Young CF, Upton 2B, Longoria 1B, Jaso C. Bench: Wilson, Cassanova, Mohr and Chris Richard. Obviously, this would mean a major overhaul of the 40 man roster. Give it a try...it can not be any worse of a product than what is in the field now...and it would be exciting!