For starters, Rays-Royals, w/Longoria "good to go"

A look at the new-look of Kauffman Stadium.

UPDATE, 6:10: RHP Grant Balfour arrived in the clubhouse, having just returned from Australia where he attended his grandfather's funeral. Also, C John Jaso was optioned back to Triple-A Durham.

UPDATE, 6:08: Longoria tested his finger in the batting cage and said he is "good to go," that essentially it's just "like a papercut now."  He is still wearing a small bandage.

He also said he was treated with IV antibotics during his stay in St. Louis to eliminate concern over an infection to the lymph nodes in his right arm. "I had a little bit of swelling just above my elbow and some on the top of my hand, and when that happens, that's kind of the line of defense for fighting infection,'' Longoria said. "I've never had that and the doctor had never seen it so that was kind of like we need to do something in a hurry here to get this before it gets too bad, so they did the right thing. The doctor in St. Louis was great, he did a great job and knocked it out.''

NEWS: The Rays are getting ready to resume play in the second half tonight against the Royals, and 3B Evan Longoria is in the Rays lineup.

 The Rays can't take batting practice on the field because of an oldtimers game related to a KC baseball hall of fame opening.Longoria is supposed to hit in the cage to make sure his infected finger is no longer a problem.

 The lineup:
Upton cf
Crawford lf
Longoria 3b
Pena 1b
Zobrist 2b
Burrell Dh
 Gross rf
Bartlett ss
Navarro c
Shields p

And the Royals:

DeJesus, lf
Bloomquist, cf
Butler, 1b
Teahen, rf
Jacobs, dh
Olivo, c
Gordon, 3b
Callaspo, 2b
Betancourt, ss
Bannister, p

Comments

[tbird]

Agree with JMS take on Shields. First of all, let's get rid of the "Big Game James" moniker. Shields is an average pitcher, walks very few (only 27 in 134 innings) but gives up way too many hits (147 hits in 134 innings) and the opposing teams have seen enough of his change-up that it isn't very effective any more. He is probably a #4 starter on this team. We won tonight and that is great, wonderful and all of that. However, let's not fool ourselves, we were lucky to get this win--the Sox and Yanks both keep winning, we are 7 out in the loss column and only have 72 left to play. We cannot catch either team playing like we have the past week. Our starting pitching is either over-rated by some or merely average--average is good but average doesn't normally get you a pennant. Still say Maddon should gt Aybar in there at first, give Pena some time off--he isn't helping the team, is he? He is striking out 35% of the time he swings the bat!

[WTF]

Well, looks like Evan was ready! Way to persevere boys and make up for a bad night by Shields. If we're gonna make a run for it, the bats are going to have to cover bad nights on the mound and vice versa, because there just haven't been enough nights where all the cylinders have been firing together.

Now if the Sux and Yanks would give a little help...

[joemaddonsucks.com]

Man oh man, every time I hear about Shields run support I want to cringe. Does anybody really look at this guys starts? Every time they get him a lead in the game, the next inning he gives it back. Regardless of run support, this guy is anything but a big game pitcher, he actually is a big game choker and has always been. His ERA is good, but he gives more games away after getting a lead that people realize. The Royals? Maddon changed the rotation to get Shileds extra starts, screwed Niemann, and now all 4 starts he got Shields, he didn't win anyways...Shields gives up 5 against B.JAYS, loses, then has a 1-0 lead against Jays next game, and blows lead in the 7th, then they score 3 runs in the 6th to make it 3-0 against Oakland, he gives them all back, and they lose, tonight they score 2 runs to make it 2-1, he gives up 5 runs..Maddon wasn't wrong for taking Shields out of the Oakland game, he was blowing the game, and the bullpen unfortuneately finished blowing it, but Maddon was wrong for screwing up the rotation to get Shields extra starts. This guy is not a #1 pitcher, he doesn't close out teams when he has a lead, and never has. Garza, Niemann, and hopefully Price can finish off teams more often than not, but Shields is a continuous choke artist when they do score him runs. Aggravating to watch his attitude and hear him blame the offense, when he doesn't finish off teams. It's on him, a good ERA doesn't tell the whole story.

[WTF]

Yea! Rays Baseball! That break took FOREVER!

I hope that Evan is REALLY ready to go if he plays. There have been too many times this year when we would've been better off with Aybar in the lineup because Evan played when he shouldn't have.

Don't like the deal with batting practice. You'd think that it would be important to get some work on the field after a long break.

With all that said, it's time to turn it around boys. I feel some of that '08 magic in the air!

Go Rays, Tigers and Jays...oh my!