Battle of first-place teams begins

There will be history made tonight as the Rays host the White Sox in the first ever meeting of first place teams at the Trop.

The storylines this afternoon - the placing of closer Troy Percival on the 15-day DL (left hamstring) and subsequent activation of Willy Aybar - will have an impact on today's lineup in a couple ways.

Aybar, who played first, second and third in his rehab assignments, will start at DH; Manager Joe Maddon said they plan to have a closer-by-committee, with any of five guys -including Dan Wheeler and Al Reyes - available to pitch the ninth.

Percival just met with the media and said he felt better than yesterday, and that he'd probably be ready to get back and throwing in four or so days, but he understands the move to put him on the DL to get an extra body in the bullpen. The 38-year-old veteran plans to make the team's next road trip to Boston - a potential battle for first in the AL East - because he hopes to be able to throw off the side during that time..

RAYS
Iwamura, 2b

Crawford, lf

Upton, cf

Pena, 1b

longoria, 3b

navarro, c

gomes, rf

aybar, dh

bartlett, ss

WHITE SOX

Cabrera, ss

Pierzynski, c

Quentin, lf

Dye, rf

Thome, dh

Konerko, 1b

Crede, 3b

Swisher, cf

Ramirez, 2b

-- JOE SMITH

joesmith@sptimes.com

Comments

[Scot Rasnick]

Well as we all know by now the Rays took 3 of 4 this past weekend against the White Sox at the Trop,but the real test is tonight for 3 games and the Rays need to keep up with thier winning ways and take 2 of 3 in Boston this week then they will show all of the baseball watchers that this Rays team is for real/THE REAL DEAL!!

[Andy]

Yeah, we may need to work on the DH issue, but at least we have options. Plus, isn't it nice that we are not complaining about the bullpen, and our biggest issue is who is going to be DH?

As for the attendance...when you are the worst/almost worst team in baseball for 10 years, you don't build much of a fan base. Also, all the numbers the ESPN and SI keep putting up about attendance are during weekdays! It may be easy to go to a night game during the week in a city where you can easily take a subway to and from the stadium, but the fan base for the Rays is so far spread out (Tampa, St. Pete, Sarasota/Bradenton, even Orlando) that we cannot expect the average 9-5 worker to be able to come to weekday games. Look at our Saturday attendance...it is steadily growing. If they used those numbers, the whole "Tampa Bay fans don't care" would be thrown out the window. I agree, give it time, keep winning, and people will jump on the bandwagon...I for one won't mind.

[giveittime]

The Rays asked for 10 years of patience as they built a winner........so give the fans some time to get on board as well............it's not fair to expect it to happen over night.

[Sonny Sonnnatine]

You guys are kidding right? Aybar is a .314 career hitter against LHP. He is one of the only players we have that can actually hit LHP. Career wise he's .291 hitter overall and gets on base at a .384 clip.

Sure Zobrist may have a little more range, but Zobrist is a .200 hitter. This team is solid enough defensively we don't need to keep Zobrist around for defensive purposes. Plus we can't "just send him to Durham." Aybar is out of options and would 100% be claimed off of waivers by another team. A little research goes a long way

[cheryl]

were ar your fans. yes u all have a god team and you were playing the sox who are also in first palce but were are your fans. now the cubs have the best record in baseball and were are your fans. how terrible no one shows up to a baseball game .

[Rightmove]

It's tough right now, too many hitters.....it's a good problem.

DH issue. Who deserves to DH? Hinske, Floyd, Aybar, or Gomes? I think it's very simple, it should be Hinske but Floyd has a little more power. Aybar should bat vs. righties and keep him since he can play a position........it's time to trade Gomes, he has not 'fit' on this team and I'd hate to lose a young, talented, multi-positional player in Aybar to keep Gomes around to whine all the time.

[Caleb]

I agree, penaandgomes, but it's not Gomes' fault that Maddon can't pick a regular DH and stick with him. I don't see any other teams swtiching their DH every day.

As for everyone on Aybar, Zobrist is TERRIBLE, open your eyes. Longoria can play shortstop in a dime and Aybar is an excellent 3rd baseman and was batting around .300 before injury. The defense only gets better with no Zobrist.

[penaandgomes]

Pena needs to be dropped in the order....he leads the league in strikeouts and left on base. Put Hinske in that spot.

Gomes has tipped his hand with all his whining. He's basically told the whole league when he isn't starting that he'll swing at everything and won't take a walk.....he proved that last night.

[Don in St. Pete]

They may be trying to showcase Aybar in case they need another arm for the bullpen. Not such a bad idea when you consider it in those terms. Otherwise they may just be trying to peak a teams interest so that when he's released when percy comes back somebody picks him up relieving the rays from having to pay his salary.

[William]

Agreed, Mark, agreed.

[Mark]

Why do we need Aybar? Is this just a courtesy to him? He has no role here anymore. Surely he had to have known he was simply a placeholder for Longoria. Longoria is ready for prime time. We don't need Aybar anymore. I disagree with the logic that he just "gets a spot back" because he lost it due to injury. Zobrist is a better utility infielder if you ask me. And I think if Evan ever needs a day off, it's an opportunity to get Hinske in the lineup to play 3rd. He's not that great of a hitter or fielder. When Percival comes back, I really hope we send him to Durham. He is 100% completely and utterly expendable. Does anybody have any thoughts on this? And DH tonight? Are you serious?? No Floyd? Is Danks a lefty? Throwing anybody into this lineup right now as well as we're playing gives me jitters, let alone a guy that's this mediocre and we're rolling out the red carpet for him on his return to a team he never really had a place on to begin with??