Greetings from the Trop, where the early returns already are positive for the Rays. It was determined this morning that Troy Percival did not need to undergo arthroscopic surgery to correct the cartilage problem in his right knee.

The Rays had scheduled an appointment for him to have the procedure earlier today if necessary, but it wasn’t. For once, everyone agreed with the headstrong pitcher that enough progress had been made the previous few days to avoid the scope.

Based on what we were told when Percival went on the disabled list Friday, the recovery time should be about the same without surgery as with—two to four weeks. But any time you can avoid being opened up, that’s probably a good thing.

As for the status of tomorrow’s game, nothing has been determined yet. The powers that be apparently are scheduled to meet again around 5 p.m. today and the hope is a decision will be made then. Stay tuned for updates.

The Rays are back to their usual lineup tonight against the Angels. Here’s how it’ll look:

Iwamura 2B
Upton CF
Pena 1B
Floyd DH
Aybar 3B
Hinske LF
Navarro C
Gross RF
Bartlett SS
Sonnanstine P