North of the border, again

The Rays are feeling pretty good about things going into the second game of their series with the Blue Jays, having won Tuesday's opener. Manager Joe Maddon is trotting out the same lineup tonight (see below) but with Matt Garza on the mound.

Most of the injury news is the same as Tuesday, though it appears RHP Gary Glover will need a few more days beyond Saturday, when he is eligible to come off the DL. INF Ben Zobrist is playing the first of four rehab games tonight for Class A Vero in Lakeland.

There was off-field news, though, and it involves .... Loverboy. The 1980s rock band has been added to the team's summer concert series and will be working for the weekend following the July 5 game with Kansas City. Also added was Latin Grammy winner Gilberto Santa Rosa, on June 14. The series kicks off May 24 with the Commodores.

And a couple of interesting statistical notes:

* Troy Percival is now alone in 10th place on the alltime saves list with 331. Rollie Fingers is 9th with 341.
* Since coming out of retirement June 26, 2007, with St. Louis, Percival has compiled a 1.42 ERA (allowing 8 runs in 51 innings over 48 appearances) while allowing only a .149 average. He has had 45 scorless innings and 27 hitless. Only two other relievers with at least 50 innings pitched have lower ERAs (J.C. Romero 1.08 and Joe Nathan 1.18) and none have allowed a lower batting average.
* Andy Sonnanstine has 10 wins since Aug. 15, only Arizona's Brandon Webb and the Yankees Chien-Ming Wang have more.
* Eric Hinske goes into play tonight leading the AL with a .622 slugging percentage.

The Jays plugged their hole at shortstop with a familiar face, bringing in ex-Ray Jorge Velandia.

As for tonight's lineup:
Iwamura, 2b
Crawford, lf
Upton, cf
Pena, 1b
Longoria, 3b
Hisnke, dh
Navarro, c
Gross, rf
Bartlett, ss
Garza, p

Comments

[Bodog]

We had an opportunity to pick up a game on Boston and distant ourselves from the rest, but the guys SUCKED big time tonite. This guy did not have electric stuff. Longo looked like the rookie he is, Pena - what can I say. I thought the boys would have this guy for lunch. There was no life to this team at all tonite.

[josh]

Pena's line for the season as of the 5th inning:
31 games
113 AB
39 K
13 BB

And he has now struck out in his last 6 straight at bats.

Pena needs to sit for a game or two, or at least be moved down in the order.

[Bodog]

@Tuck, Floyd will make a big difference in the lineup when he returns and I think Maddon will move Pena one batter down in the lineup at number 5 with Longo, Hinski, Navvi, and Bartlet to follow.

[JUSTIN]

Tuck, why just throw it, scream it for goodness sake. Pena is terrible right now. Get him out of the 4 spot and move him to 6th. Maddon is an idiot for continuing to put him at 4.

[Tuck]

I think that Joe Magrane is right... teams have figured out that Gomes thrives on breaking balls. Until he shows that he can crank fast balls over the fence, he wont see too many more breaking balls.

I can't wait to see Floyd back in the lineup.

Just throwing this out there, but I think that Maddon should switch Hinske and Pena in the lineup until Pena gets hot.

[agree]

I agree, trade Gomes........but only because he's a strikeout waiting to happen.

[JR]

I wish they'd trade gomes so he can get playing time...