Upton back in starting lineup; so is Rocco
The Rays, coming off a dramatic, playoff-clinching victory (and celebration), return for an early matinee against the Twins at Tropicana Field.
And, as expected, a few of the regulars get days off (SS Jason Bartlett, 2B Akinori Iwamura, C Dioner Navarro).
But the big names back in the starting lineup today are CF B.J. Upton, who had missed 10 straight games with strained left quadriceps before pinch-hitting Saturday, and OF Rocco Baldelli, who will play in rightfield.
RAYS
Upton, cf
Zobrist, ss
Pena, dh
Longoria, 3b
Aybar, 2b
Baldelli, rf
Johnson, 1b
Hernandez, c
Perez, lf
Sonnanstine, rhp
-- 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 Scott Kazmir, we're your source for Tampa Bay Rays scores and schedules.
Upton plays way too shallow in center. Sure, he'll make some catches robbing batters of singles, but it's the ball that goes over his head that does the damage.
Jim
Posted by: Jim | September 23, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Upton plays way too shallow in center. Sure, he'll make some catches robbing batters of singles, but it's the ball that goes over his head that does the damage.
Jim
Posted by: Jim | September 23, 2008 at 04:12 PM
Did anyone see that "run" b.j. made go the ball in front of him? I wonder if the ball would have been caught by Perez.
Posted by: ron_fl | September 23, 2008 at 07:15 AM
Methinks tooooooooo many hangovers were evident today. So what, they deserved a good time and this loss is merely a blip on the screen--if we win 5 games, Red Sox have to win em all...
I like our chances and like the idea of using Price tomorrow when each game is important just to see what the kid is made of.
Posted by: zeke | September 21, 2008 at 05:20 PM
Upton sucks!
Posted by: | September 21, 2008 at 05:07 PM