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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 vs D-Backs; Upton vs Upton

Posted Jun 25, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Jun 25, 2010 at 06:14 PM

Yvonne Upton, whose sons B.J. and Justin will oppose each other this weekend at the Trop, shows off a jersey made for her by a family friend before Friday’s game

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG Attendance at the Trop will get a boost this weekend as nearly 70 family and friends of the Upton family will descend on the dome to watch Justin Upton of the D-Backs and B.J. Upton of the Rays play against each other for the first time ever.

Yvonne and Manny Upton watched batting practice from behind home plate before tonight’s game. Yvonne wore a white jersey with the names and numbers of both sons.

Who is she rooting for? Her sons, she said.

With B.J. playing center field and Justin playing right, there is a strong chance one brother will rob the other of a hit.

“I told them they can’t do that,” Yvonne said.

Yvonne said it is every parent’s dream to see their children do well, and reaching the major league level certainly comes under that category. But Yvonne said she has another dream for her boys.

“My vision was for them to be in center field and the other in right field on the same team,” she said.

In game news, Rays left fielder Carl Crawford said his sore left shoulder didn’t show much improvement since Thursday when he took himself out of the lineup after two innings because he couldn’t swing or throw.

Matt Joyce, recalled Thursday, is in left field.

Right fielder Ben Zobrist replaced CC in the two-hole.

Former Ray Edwin Jackson, who tied the team record with 14 wins in 2008, starts for the D-Backs.

Here are the lineups:

D-BACKS
Kelly Johnson DH
Stephen Drew SS
Justin Upton RF
Miguel Montero C
Chris Young CF
Adam LaRoche 1B
Mark Reynolds 3B
Gerardo Parra LF
Tony Abreu 2B
—-
Edwin Jackson RHP

RAYS
Jaso C
Zobrist RF
Longoria 3B
Pena 1B
Joyce LF
Upton CF
Blalock DH
Rodriguez 2B
Bartlett SS
—-
Jeff Niemann P