The Rays will stick with the same rotation they used in the first round, Joe Maddon said today.

James Shields will get the ball in Game 1, followed by Scott Kazmir. Matt Garza and “probably” Andy Sonnanstine.

Why?

“I like it,” said Maddon. “I just like it that way. It’s no different from the first round in a sense. Shieldsy in the first game, because he normally gets a little bit deeper in the game. Kaz in the second game, if he runs into a little bit of a pitch-count problem, you have the bullpen fresher [with a day off following], and then of course the next two guys. And listen, we know about Garza, but Andy has done consistently well the last month or so, so I don’t want to subtract Andy out of the mix, either. You could talk about a three-man rotation, but we really have not set up guys on less than normal rest. We’re not opposed to doing it if we need to, but for right now, theoretically perfect, we’re going to go that way.”