Rocco to be re-evaluated

The big news out of today's pregame is that CF Rocco Baldelli has returned to St. Pete and will see team doctors on Monday for re-evaluation after missing his scheduled start at Class-A Vero Beach Thursday with general soreness.

"He's shut down for now," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Joe Maddon said the soreness Baldelli, left, is experiencing -- he spent two games as starting DH and was 0-for-5 --isn't directly related to his hamstring, but has more to so with the adjustments Baldelli has made to his running style.

Still, it's definitely a setback, because Baldelli was scheduled to be in Durham making his way toward playing nine innings by next week. Instead he'll be at the doctor's.

As for the guys who are playing, Maddon has flipped B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena again (He did the same Wednesday), giving the Rays three left-handed hitters at the top of the order against left-hander Lenny DiNardo.

Also, we'll have to watch closely whether the tension between these teams escalates after last night's hit batters. ... and if hitting coach Steve Henderson's postgame meeting with the players ignites the bats.

The full lineup:
Iwamura, 3B
Crawford, LF
Pena, 1B
Upton, CF
Young, RF
Harris, 2B
Gomes, DH
Navarro, C
Wilson, SS

Comments

[Ray]

Please don't report on Rocco til he's about to start that night (in MLB), it's getting old hearing that he's injured again.

[Steve Liddell]

Rocco who? Didn't he used to play CF? It doesn't matter anymore. CF is Uptons!!

[Mark]

Yeah, how many times have we seen this? It should be an actual news story when he's NOT setback in his recovery.