The Rays find themselves in Bradenton today, taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The starting lineup and other random nuggets of grizzle are below.
Rays 3/7/13 Starting Lineup:
Jennings CF
Fontenot SS
Roberts 2B
Joyce RF
Loney 1B
Cust DH
Rodriguez LF
Gimenez 3B
Lobaton C
Cobb RHP
Noteworthiness:
- Wil Myers, Tim Beckham, Hak-Ju Lee, Chris Archer, and Jake Odorizzi are also on the travel squad today.
- The five Rays taking part in the WBC will join their national teams tonight, and could be gone a while. There is some trepidation on the part of the Rays over the workload. Specifically, there is a concern that Ben Zobrist, Jose Molina, Fernando Rodney, Cesar Ramos, and Alex Torres don’t get overused in the games, especially the pitchers. There’s also worry that they don’t get used enough. On the subject, Joe Maddon was quoted as saying:
Sometimes I think the concern is that they’re going to play too much or pitch too much, but actually I think the concern is just the opposite, that they don’t play enough, they don’t get enough at-bats, they don’t get enough innings, enough consistent work.
That’s the greater concern right now. I think the ultimate concern is injury, but I don’t really focus on that as much as them getting their work in.
- Finally, the answer to the elusive question – of what that flushing noise may be – is the Yankees 2013 season! First baseman Mark Teixeira will reportedly miss 8-10 weeks due to a strained right wrist. The hits keep coming for the Yankees. You may recall that Curtis Granderson broke his arm after getting plunked within the first week of Grapefruit League play. The New York Yankees may as well claim their new title: Least in the East!
