Location: St. Petersburg, Fla. | Ballpark: Tropicana Field (36,048) | Spring Training: St. Petersburg, Fla.
Owner: Stuart Sternberg | GM: Andrew Friedman | Manager: Joe Maddon | World Championships: 0
--2B Akinori Iwamura led off the first inning with a home run, his first leadoff blast since June 23. A day after his 11-game hitting streak ended, he went 2-for-3 and raised his average to .263.
--C Shawn Riggans made the most of his first start in 11 days, going 2-for-3 with a home run. The Rays had been riding starting C Dioner Navarro, who had been hot, but Riggans has been doing drills to stay ready.
--RHP Troy Percival worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances, giving him 334 for his career, seven shy of Rollie Fingers for ninth place all-time.
--SS Jason Bartlett was scratched from the lineup due to a family matter, but he is expected to join the team in St. Louis for Friday's game. SS Ben Zobrist started in his place and made his 2008 debut, having been activated Tuesday off the DL.
--RHP Andy Sonnanstine will be on the mound Friday seeking his team-high sixth win, but he will also be at the plate as the Rays open interleague play in their first-ever visit to St. Louis. Sonnanstine is 2-for-5 as a hitter.
BY THE NUMBERS 5 -- Games over .500, at 21-16, on the morning of May 12. It was a first in the franchise's 11-season history.
QUOTE TO NOTE "We feel like we're going to win every game right now." -- LF Carl Crawford.
Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.
Now we have Maddon talking about maybe Rocco being the right handed outfielder the team needs. I'm not sure how he's keeping his disease in order, but if he can come up and contribute why not? I know the Rocco deal comes up every few months, but right now he's doing well in AA.
Amazing how quickly the message board trolls Goat and Tom Terrific disappear and vanish into thin air when the Rays perform in their usual strong and winning ways. It just makes me laugh - they are like bandwaggon fans, but working in a negative fashion, lol... gotta feel a little sorry for them.
The Rays have lost 7 in a row they need to change things up a bit how about calling up David Price this guy is a future ace! In AA (double a) David Price has a 4-0 record with a 1.38 ERA 26 innings and 22 strikeouts in four starts, in A ball he went 4-0 with a 1.82 ER
