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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Rays at BoSox: Rivalry renewed

Posted May 25, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 25, 2012 at 08:07 AM

ROGER MOONEY
BOSTON This weekend series between the Rays and Red Sox could be billed as the battle of survivors.

The Rays have 10 players on the disabled list while the Red Sox have 13.

Brandon Allen (right quad strain) is eligible to come off the disabled list today and could rejoin the team this weekend.

Desmond Jennings (left knee sprain) is eligible to come off the disabled list Sunday, but won’t because he needs a few at-bats in minor league games to get ready.

There was talk Hideki Matsui would join the team on this road trip, but that went away with Matsui’s slow start at Durham. He’s batting .121 in nine games

Alex Cobb makes his Fenway Park debut tonight as the Rays open a three-game series in Boston. A native of Boston, Cobb and his family moved to Vero Beach when he was 2. He visited family in New England every summer and usually found his way to Fenway Park.

A Red Sox fan as a kid, a former spring training bat boy for the Dodgers at Dodgertown, Cobb now gets to face his boyhood team.

Cobb, who made his season debut with seven strong innings against the Braves last Saturday and picked up the win in the 5-2 victory, will be opposed by Jon Lester (3-3, 3.95). Lester is 10-6 with a 3.91 ERA in his career against the Rays.

B.J. Upton brings a .300 batting average into tonight’s game, his highest average at this point of the season since June 10, 2008.

The Red Sox, even without the services of Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury (two of the baker’s dozen on the DL), have won 10 of their last 13.

The Rays are scuffling a little, having won eight of their last 16 games.

The Rays begin the day one game back of the first-place Orioles.

The Red Sox are last in the division with a 22-22 record, 5 ½ back of the O’s. The Red Sox have yet to break .500 this year.

The Red Sox took three of the four games against the Rays at Fenway back in April. The teams split a two-game series at the Trop last week.