Rays to platoon Hinske, Ruggiano in left

UPDATE, 8:50 Manager Joe Maddon said he plans to platoon Eric Hinske (against righthanders) and Justin Ruggiano (against lefties) in leftfield to replace Carl Crawford, and do the same, when possible, with Gabe Gross (against righthanders) and Rocco Baldelli (vs. lefties) in rightfield. Willy Aybar will get most of the playing time at third base to replace Evan Longoria, at least initially.

He also said SS Jason Bartlett's bruised right index finger continues to improve but still prevents him from throwing well enough to return to the field, and it likely would be Friday in Texas at the earliest.

Executive VP Andrew Friedman said it "seems reasonable" to think Longoria would return to the lineup by Sept. 1 and while not discussing specifics of the fracture in Longoria's right wrist, said: "It's not bad. It could be a lot worse. There's no ligament involvement. It's at a place where it's very reasonable to expect it to heal pretty quickly.''

The Rays will know more in two weeks when Longoria will be re-evaluated and x-rayed again. "I think it's very reasonable (for Sept. 1) as we're sitting here today but as everybody knows bones heal at different paces and it's too hard to say definitively at this point,'' Friedman said.

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Justin Ruggiano wasn't just called up, he's going right into the starting lineup, batting sixth and playing leftfield, and the Rays go forward without LF Carl Crawford or 3B Evan Longoria, who are both on the DL.

The other lineup news is that Jason Bartlett (bruised right index finger) is still not ready to go back to shortstop, meaning he is the DH tonight (though hitting ninth) and Rocco Baldelli is back in rightfield. Ben Zobrist is at shortstop.

LHP Scott Kazmir takes the mound, confident a small adjustment to his stride will make a big difference in his performance.

Executive VP Andrew Friedman is here and expected to address the mediabefore the game with an update on Crawford, who was considering surgery on his right hand and likely to miss the rest of the season.

The full lineup:

Iwamura, 2b
Upton, cf
Pena, 3b
Baldelli, rf
Aybar, 3b
Ruggiano, lf
Navarro, c
Zobrist, ss
Bartlett, dh
Kazmir, p

Comments

[Lenne G]

Now you get to really see if he is ready and is the real deal, deserving or not. A true test with the magnitude of the implications, (post season and all). If he fits and does well now, chances are in the post season he'll be just fine. Now's a great time to make sure. Good luck Rugs I'm sure you'll make it!

[Tone]

This line up is not good. We should have gotten Bay or Dunn or something(Not Gary). Texas looming. Ugh!!! Do we have a hitting coach cause I keep seeing the same flyout/groundouts early in the pitch count. We have amazing defense but the hitters just plain suck most of the time. I don't understand how the coaches seem excemt from all the discussion. Breaking my heart with loss' to awful pitching. Thanks for the 1st part of the season!

[Michael]

The problem with finding a new outfielder is the clubhouse. Bonds and Shefield are not the answer. Lets get the batting coach busy and teach them how to hit line drives for singles and drive in some runs.Also the word ACE is not the name for Kazmir, what is with him.

[52423]

I just don't get it...They're looking for a righthanded RIGHTFielder. Ruggiano seems to fit the bill let him play there? I know they want to help Baldelli, but they already know he's not 100%. Let Rocco DH.

Find out if Ruggiano is the answer?

[Steve Duemig's DUI]

Ruggiano has not shown anything at the big league level. Riggans is hitting better than him for God sake. He needs to step it up if he wants to play with the big boys.

[Ray F]

We're missing a 2-time all-star when CC is out of the lineup. I think Ruggiano/Baldelli will pick up the slack just fine, but when you lose CC, you lose a 2-time all-star player.

[Carl]

Can anyone make a good argument for me for Carl Crawford being a premier defensive player? I simply cannot see it at all. It seems everytime there is a man trying to score on a ball hit to him in left field, the throw goes to the wrong base or it's halfway up the third base line. I have yet to see him throw out a runner due to his weak and inaccurate arm. Fly balls, at times, seem to be an adventure for him. Yes he is very fast but he doesn't catch the balls with his feet. He must have been nursing injuries all year long because he is not the same player he has been in years past. I have read he is a hard worker but only once and I wonder if it was spin. Also, while he has put up great numbers to start his career, how much better could the numbers have been had he learned to not swing at the first pitch with such frequency. His OBP is 60 points higher when he looks at the first pitch and gets deeper in the count. What are we really losing here in left field?

[The Joke is on US]

playing against a team in a total tailspin our limpdick lineup is close to putting up a goose egg

what a friggin JOKE

[Ryan]

Ruggiano should have been our starting RF before the injury to CC. Ruggiano is a very good hitter, and was being wasted at AAA. I think he will do a good job filling in for CC.

[Bill]

He'll hit more homers than Carl, and being healthy he's probably running as fast as Crawford(at 85%)

[Dom]

This is Ruggiano's test by fire. He should have been brought up sooner. Perhaps my expectations are too high. He certainly looked good this past spring.

[Vince Namaoili]

No way we sign Sheffield. You think Upton has a bad attitude now, magnify it exponentially with that malcontent in the clubhouse!

[Jesse]

SHEFFIELD to Rays?????

hes now on waivers...14 million but hey, I have seen him hit many HR's at the trop over the past 3 seasons...hmmmm

[Bill]

Give the kid a shot...........it shouldn't be hard to put up Carl Crawford numbers this season.

[David]

Thats sorta bad that Bartlett is not playing short but at least hes not on the DL like the rest of our team. GO Rays!!!

[Edgar]

Just give us the whole line-up when you make a post like this.