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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 v M’s: Upton not in lineup but said he’s OK

Posted May 3, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 3, 2012 at 12:17 PM

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG B.J. Upton is not in today’s lineup, which is no surprise since he left last night’s game with tightness/cramp in his right quad.

Upton said he is available to come off the bench today and expects to return to the lineup Friday night.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he said.

Ben Zobrist is also sitting this one out. This will be his first day off this season, which is probably not a bad idea, since Zobrist is struggling at the bat with a .200 average.

Joe Maddon has really mixed and matched his lineup today, playing Will Rhymes at second and Jeff Keppinger at third.

Keppinger has made 85 starts at third during his career but none since 2009.

The Rays begin the day tied with the Rangers and Dodgers for the best record in baseball at 17-8. They’ve won 10 of their last 11 games and are 11-1 at the Trop this season. A win today and they sweep the Mariners in this four-game series.

Former Rays catcher John Jaso makes his first start of the season behind the plate for the M’s.

Here are the lineups:

MARINERS
Figgins LF
Ackley 2B
Suzuki RF
Seager 3B
Jaso C
Carp DH
Smoak 1B
Saunders CF
Kawasaki SS
—
Millwood RHP (0-2, 5.24)

RAYS
Jennings CF
Peña 1B
Joyce RF
Scott DH
Allen LF
Rhymes 2B
Keppinger 3B
Gimenez C
Rodriguez SS
—
Niemann RHP (1-3, 3.86)