Subbing today for Marc Lancaster, who hopefully will take a little nap this morning before tackling his full day’s work away from the ballpark.

They’re playing 12 innings here at Al Lang today, the nine-inning scheduled game between the Rays and Phillies and an additional three innings to get work for pitchers whose scheduled work was washed out by a rain-shortened game played on Thursday in Clearwater. So, settle in and get ready for a whole lot of baseball (weather permitting, of course).

As of now, by the way, the skies are clear and the forecast looks good for the 1:05 start.

The lineup has a different look today, with starting outfielders Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Jonny Gomes getting the day off. Here’s how they stack up for Jeff Niemann’s second spring appearance:

Rays
Iwamura, 2B
Bartlett, SS
Pena, 1B
Guzman, LF
Floyd, DH
Perez, RF
Aybar, 3B
Navarro, C
Zobrist, CF

Niemann, P

Phillies
Rollins, SS
Bruntlett, 2B
Dobbs, LF
Burrell, DH
Jenkins, RF
Felix, 3B
Helms, 1B
Taguchi, CF
Coste, C

Hamels, P

Notice the Rays have two infielders, Joel Guzman and Ben Zobrist, playing the outfield today. Guzman has played some outfield before, spending a full season there for the Dodgers in the minors and playing some in winter ball, as well. For Zobrist, who played an inning in center Thursday, this is a new experience. It kind of makes sense to have them out there today for a couple of reasons, actually. The grass is still wet from all the rain in the area Thursday night, so why risk injury to the starters? Besides, Guzman and Zobrist need some work out there if there’s a chance they might see time in the outfield during the regular season.

Of course, if Rocco Baldelli were ready to play on a consistent basis, neither Zobrist nor Guzman might get much of a look out there. But Baldelli, who took two at-bats Tuesday as the DH but was scratched from anticipated appearances later in the week, remains sidelined with the same mysterious health issue that has plagued him since early last season. Chatted with Baldelli briefly in the clubhouse before the writers were kicked out so the team could meet with union chief Don Fehr. It’s a frustrating exercise trying to nail him down on the specifics of his ailment, a frustration he acknowledges. But, he said, as frustrating as it is for the people out there who want to know exactly what’s wrong and exactly how long he’s going to be out, it’s 1,000 times more frustrating for him. He’s not one to give updates on every little medical test he’s given, mostly because they haven’t been conclusive. So, the mystery continues. And it will continue into the weekend, apparently, because he’s not on the travel roster for Saturday’s game against the Yankees in Tampa.

The good news is, LHP Scott Kazmir reported no ill effect from playing catch Thursday and is scheduled to have a long-toss session today with athletic trainer Ron Porterfield. If all goes well, he’ll pitch off a mound either Sunday or Monday, depending on whether he needs a day off. He could participate in a spring game as soon as Friday against Toronto and insisted again that he is on track to make the Opening Day start against the Orioles on March 31.

UPDATING
Niemann pitched three hitless innings, walking two and striking out two. It’s a windy day out there, so it can’t have been easy for the big (6-foot-9) right-hander to work. But his fastball looked good (he broke Geoff Jenkins’ bat on a second-inning ground out) and his breaking ball seemed effective (he caught Patt Burrell looking to end the first). Through two-and-a-half innings, there is no score.

UPDATING AGAIN
The Rays won the regularly scheduled game, 9-1, to improve to a franchise-best start of 6-1 this spring. As of this moment, at 4:44 p.m., the lights were just turned on as the teams play an extra four innings to get some work for pitchers who were scratched because of rainouts earlier in the week.