Longoria to miss next two Tampa Bay Rays games
UPDATE: Longoria's absence is due to a death in the family, team officials said.
Slugging 3B Evan Longoria is expected to miss the Rays next two games.
Longoria was headed to California Wednesday morning for what a team official described as a family matter. He is expected to return for Friday's game against the White Sox.
Longoria leads the majors with five homers and has a .441 average and hits in each of the first eight games, a career-best streak.
Willy Aybar is likely to take his place at third base.
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 James Shields, we're your source for Tampa Bay Rays scores and schedules.
Here are some random thoughts after watching the Rays/Yankees series. Percival is done. The Rays are in trouble with him closing. He falls behind 2-0 to Ransom who is hitting under .100 and almost threw the ball away. Let's hope Isringhausen is ready soon. The rest of the bullpen has been struggling including JP, Balfour and Wheeler.
Pat the Bat has been an 8 million a year bust so far. Kapler's inept baserunning has already cost the Rays two big outs already this season. Ditto for Gross. Is this the veteran leadership that Kapler is supposedly providing?
Posted by: Mick | April 15, 2009 at 07:58 PM