Quick turnaround at the Trop

Posted Apr 10, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Apr 10, 2008 at 10:59 AM

The Rays try to get a four-game losing streak off their backs with an afternoon tilt against the Mariners today. The last pitcher to record a win for the Rays, Edwin Jackson, is on the hill, and we’ll see if he can carry over his success from New York.

Updating after talking to Joe Maddon: Willy Aybar is out today because his hamstring tightened up on that play at the plate last night.

“He’s available to pinch-hit today but we wanted to back off,” said Maddon.

In other news, Scott Kazmir will throw his next live BP session tomorrow rather than Saturday—Maddon said he misspoke on that yesterday. And Matt Garza will do some light throwing Saturday, which I suppose should be taken as a positive sign.

One other thing—there’s still nothing official on Sunday’s starter, but Maddon acknowledged that is more in the “to be announced” category than “to be determined.” In other words, get ready to welcome Jeff Niemann to the majors.

Here are today’s lineups:

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

Mariners
Ichiro CF
Lopez 2B
Beltre 3B
Ibanez LF
Sexson 1B
Vidro DH
Morse RF
Johjima C
Betancourt SS
Batista P