Balfour back in the bigs
Reliever Grant Balfour, one of the final cuts in spring training, was excited to be back with the Rays Friday, expecting to play a role in the team's strong bullpen.
Balfour was virtually unhittable in his stint for Triple-A Durham, going 8-for-8 in save chances with an ERA of .38 in 23.2 innings. Manager Joe Maddon said he could envision Balfour in a number of roles in the bullpen, from a one, or two inning guy to, potentially, closing games.
Another bit of pre-game news, OF Rocco Baldelli is scheduled to play Saturday in another extended spring game. Baldelli, who's been on the DL with a rare mitochondrial disorder, will get five at-bats in a DH role. There's still no timetable for his return.
3B Evan Longoria took some reps in infield practice at shortstop, where he'll serve as backup to Jason Bartlett.
As for the lineups, should be a pretty good pitching matchup with James Shields and Jose Contreras...Only a few switches in the Rays order, with Eric Hinske in RF and Cliff Floyd back at DH.
Chicago:
Cabrera, SS
Pierzynski, C
Quentin, LF
Dye, RF
Thome, DH
Konerko, 1B
Crede, 3B
Swisher, CF
Ramirez, 2B
Contreras, P
Rays:
Iwamura, 2B
Crawford, LF
Upton, CF
Pena, 1B
Longoria, 3B
Floyd, DH
Navarro, C
Hinske, RF
Bartlett, SS
Shields, P
-- JOE SMITH
Follow Tampa Bay Rays baseball from spring training to the World Series with Marc Topkin, Joe Smith and the St. Petersburg Times sports staff. From Evan Longoria to B.J. Upton and James Shields, we're your source for Tampa Bay Rays scores and schedules.
My over/under, as Dave said, was DEAD ON :)
I'm am very glad the Rays won............now it's time to move Pena down.........I literally almost broke the remote tonight.
Posted by: Bill | May 30, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Wonderful Game Cliff Floyd is worth his weight in gold.I am so glad they signed himGo Rays!!
Posted by: Brad M | May 30, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Bill you NAILED IT.
Pena wiffed twice and left 4 on base.
Posted by: Dave | May 30, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Pinellas County get to that stadium and watch this team for crying out loud. Otherwise, best case scenario is they move to Tampa, or Orlando.
Posted by: Dave | May 30, 2008 at 10:03 PM
YEAH CLIFFFF!!!!!!!
Posted by: Dave | May 30, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Ok Cliff, Navvy, Gabe . . . bottom of the 9th tied at 1 . . . let's end it.
Watching these White Sox commentators on MLB.TV is killing me.
Posted by: Dave | May 30, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Bill I couldn't agree more.
Pena needs to be moved down the lineup some.
Upton's OBP is too good to be wasted with Pena wiffing behind him, especially with BJ getting himself into scoring position by stealing second. You ant your best hitter hitting 3rd, which right now Upton is, so I don't know you want him hitting lead off.
Move Longoria and Floyd up, and Pena down, may take some heat off Pena too, let him relax and get his swing back.
Posted by: Dave | May 30, 2008 at 09:47 PM
What is the over/under on Pena K's and men left on base.
I'm going with 2 K's and 4 men left of man. Any takers :)
Posted by: Bill | May 30, 2008 at 06:58 PM