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Day off for Longoria, Crawford will DH


TORONTO—Some weary Rays down in the clubhouse, ready to get out of here following tonight’s game and get on home.

Some changes in the lineup on getaway night, with Evan Longoria getting his first day off since being called up and someone besides Carl Crawford starting in left field for the first time this season.

Joe Maddon wanted to get Longoria, who is hitting .138 (4-for-29) on the road trip, a bit of a mental break, and the young third baseman didn’t argue.

“I don’t want a day off, I wouldn’t go in and ask him for a day off – obviously, I want to play every day,” said Longoria. “But it’s something that probably is needed right now.”

Crawford also welcomed the bit of rest that will come from serving as the DH, though he still considers it a full workday.

On the rehab front, Cliff Floyd went 3-for-4 in an extended spring game and managed to get himself caught in a rundown, which the Rays considered a good test for his knee. He’ll take BP at the Trop tomorrow (though the rest of the team will not, opting for individual hitting in the cage) and be evaluated from there. Maddon said Floyd definitely will not be activated tomorrow, but didn’t rule out him coming off the DL at any point after that.

Ah, one other pregame nugget I just noticed: the Pirates acquired Tampa Jesuit’s Jason Michaels from the Indians for a player to be named.

Here are the lineups:

Rays
Iwamura 2B
Crawford DH
Upton CF
Pena 1B
Hinske 3B
Navarro C
Gross RF
Haynes LF
Bartlett SS
Jackson P

Jays
Rios RF
Stewart LF
Rolen 3B
Stairs DH
Wells CF
Overbay 1B
Hill 2B
Zaun C
Scutaro SS
Litsch P

Send Us Your Comments

Posted by  matt,  on 05/09  at  08:56 AM

Hold the hitting coach accountable!!! He is not there to keep Madden’s spirit’s up(thats bench coaches job). The Rays have at least 4 guys in a major slump.
And with Pena, I think this should have been expected.(and why they should have waited on the 24 million dollar extension. He has never hot more than 27 HR’s until last year, he never hit more than .248 before last year and the most RBI’s he’s ever had before last season was 84.
And for all the people who wanted Longoria here early, I think the Rays knew exactly what they were doing. I think more seasoning in AAA would have been better than him trying to get out of a slump his first 3 weeks on the team....Shame Aybar was hurt…


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