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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 Jays: Joyce a rare start against a lefty

Posted Sep 24, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Sep 24, 2011 at 05:14 PM

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is how Matt Joyce found himself in tonight’s lineup despite the fact he’s 0-for-9 against Blue Jays left Ricky Romero.

Manager Joe Maddon said he likes that matchup, but admitted it’s not something he would do in July.

In fact, Joyce is starting for just the seventh time in the last 31 games in which the Rays faced a lefty.

Joyce is hitting .235 against lefties.

Romero has allowed a .265 batting average to lefties and just a .195 average to righties. Romero is what Maddon refers to as a “reverse-split” pitcher, meaning he’s tougher on the opposite batters than those hitting from the same side which he throws.

So, the Rays begin the night 2 ½ games behind the Wild Card-leading Red Sox with five games to play, and Maddon is going a little against his grain by starting Joyce.

The Rays are running out of time, but the Red Sox are leaving the door wide open. They trailed the Yankees 8-0 after the third inning this afternoon.

Here are the lineups:

BLUE JAYS
McCoy SS
Thames LF
Bautista RF
Johnson 2B
Encarnacion 3B
Rasmus CF
Cooper 1B
Arencibia C
Loewen DH
—
Romero P

RAYS
Jennings LF
Upton CF
Longoria 3B
Zobrist 2B
Damon DH
Rodriguez SS
Kotchman 1B
Joyce RF
Lobaton C
—
Niemann P