Tampa Bay Rays Starting Lineup, 4/18/12

The Rays will take on the Jays for game two of this three game set tonight at 7:00. David Price will take the hill against Brandon “I came within one out of no hitting the Rays in 2010, and I also struck out 29 Rays batters in two consecutive appearance against the Rays” Morrow. That is to say, Morrow is a very good pitcher and, by and large, has Tampa Bay’s number. Joe Maddon is so aware of this fact, that he’s assembled one of his more odd lineups (below) in recent history. Tonight’s lineup has Ben Zobrist batting second, Carlos Pena batting third, and Evan Longoria batting fourth. It’s not often that Longo is fourth. And II must admit, ‘m not really comfortable with Luke Scott following Longoria in the lineup, especially after the two double plays that he grounded into last night. Nevertheless, it is what it is.

One dogma pervades David Price tonight: don’t give Joey Bats anything he can hit. Jose Bautista is 9 for 27 lifetime against Price, including four home runs. To put in another way, though Bautista is a Ray killer, with 1/4 of all of his home runs against the Rays coming off of Price, he’s more so a Price killer. If Price is as confident in his stuff as he says he is, then he’d better come out of the barn on fire. It’s safe to say that this 80 pitches or more in three to four innings of work mess won’t cut it. Hell, that wouldn’t even cut it in the pen.

Tampa Bay Rays (5-6) starting lineup, 4/18/12:

Jennings CF
Zobrist RF
Pena 1B
Longoria 3B
Scott DH
Keppinger 2B
Joyce LF
Molina C
Rodriguez SS
Price LHP

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