Bartlett gets day off, Navarro still out

Update 5:05 pm The Rays look to guarantee their first-ever winning record with their 82nd victory of the season tonight against the Orioles, and former teammate Aubrey Huff.

Not only is C Dioner Navarro again out of the lineup, but so is SS Jason Bartlett. Navarro, who has missed two straight games with sore hamstrings, felt a lot better today (taking batting practice and running the bases) and could be back in the lineup Saturday.

As for Bartlett, manager Joe Maddon said the shortstop isn't hurt, he just wanted to give him a day off this weekend, and would rather have it against the RHP Jeremy Guthrie than the two left-handers the Orioles will throw the next two days; Bartlett will be back in the lineup Saturday, when Orioles LHP Chris Waters will start in replace of RHP Daniel Cabrera. Maddon said he just wanted to be mindful of the right knee Bartlett sprained earlier this season, and with days off today and the team day off Monday, he should be good to go.

The lineup:
Iwamura, 2b
Upton, cf
Pena, 1b
Floyd, dh
Aybar, 3b
Hinske, lf
Zobrist, ss
Gross, rf
Riggans, c
Kazmir, p

Comments

[Amanda]

I'm at the game. Anybody know where Aki went?

[Navarro]

I had two dinners tonight!

[MD]

Nice job Scott, & congratulations Ben. Floyd is on fire. Good time to get hot at the plate!

[CJ]

Where did you prissy haters go? The O's are getting some schooling.

[CJ]

Shut up a-holes, 10 to 0 in the 5th, Zobrist grand slam, Gross homer after that

[Mitch]

Go Orioles. Don't let Pena beat you. Keep the ball way down where he can't hit it.

Work the count on Kazmir and eat into that overworked Tampa Bay bullpen.

C'mon, O's. Take two out of three and give us Blue Jay fans some help!!

[Slappy]

I see there are 72 people at tonight's game. Maybe people are preparing for Gustav. As for why I'm not there; I'm sans vehicle at the moment, so I have a valid excuse.

[Durham Danny]

Can I use my Durham season tickets this weekend?
As long as they're going to trot out a lineup with Zobrist, Riggans, etc we should be able to use them down in Tampa

[Kazmir]

I won't be pitching Sunday. Why would my pitch count have anything to do with you attending the game?

[MD]

Scott, if you can get ahead of few batters, keep the game moving along for your fielders, instead of going 3-1 on every right handed batter, I promise to attend the game Sunday. If you have thrown your 100 pitches by the 4th, you should buy a bunch of tickets & hand them out tomorrow before the game.

[mo]

Whats wrong w/ bartlett?? Really hoping for kazmir to turn the corner and get on track for the playoffs... Go rays

[9equals8.com]

Have not heard anything about JB. Hopefully this is just Joe resting him. This is the first game he's missed since coming back, if I am not mistaken.

Also, Josh Beckett on the DL. Time for the Rays to make a move and put this thing away. It pains me, but I am a White Sox fan for 3 days.

Looks like we will have a better crowd at the Trop tonight (so say my sources). I hope they are right as I am tired of the media latching on to the only negative thing they can find regarding this team.

[David]

Safety first Ray F, safety first.

[Bill]

If you've watched him lately he's been playing hurt, no doubt.

[Ray F]

was it the tweaked knee???