Pitchers meet and other pregame notes

Posted May 17, 2009 by Marc Lancaster

Updated May 17, 2009 at 11:57 AM

Pregame tidbits:

* Joe Maddon and Jim Hickey met with the Rays’ starting rotation for at least a half-hour earlier today. Maddon described it as a “pep talk” featuring an exchange of thoughts all the way around. Andy Sonnanstine didn’t stick around for the whole thing, as he had to go sit down with Michel Hernandez and go over the Indians’ hitters, but the other four starters spent quite a bit of quality time in Maddon’s office.

“I just wanted to go over some things with them,” Maddon said. “It was a nice conversation, it was a nice give-and-take; that’s what I had planned on. I just wanted them to feel comfortable with everything and let them know that I have all the confidence in the world in all of them.”

* Pat Burrell is here, two days after getting a cortisone shot in his neck, but Maddon hadn’t talked to him yet (they were scheduled to sit down at 1:00) so he doesn’t know what will come next. We’re hoping for a postgame update on that front, but you never know.