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Team Hoping Aybar Is Close
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Published: March 27, 2008
Updated: 03/27/2008 12:55 am
FORT MYERS - The Rays already have determined that Evan Longoria will not be their Opening Day third baseman Monday in Baltimore. Now, they have to wonder if Willy Aybar will be able to play.
The offseason acquisition from Atlanta continues to fight soreness in his left hamstring. Though he has missed the last four games and visited the doctor Wednesday morning instead of making the trip to Fort Myers, the Rays think he will be ready for the opener.
"I still believe he's going to be fine to play in that game," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I have not heard anything that leads me to believe he won't be."
Aybar has told the Rays' medical staff he feels good enough to play, but their eyes and ears have told them otherwise. Maddon said head athletic trainer Ron Porterfield isn't convinced the 25-year-old is ready to play at full speed.
Maddon said he hopes to play Aybar today against the Indians, but the Rays are prepared to give Elliot Johnson the start if he can't go.
Either Johnson or Joel Guzman likely would get the call Opening Day if Aybar isn't ready by then.
KICK SAVE: Johnson found himself in the middle of another play that had everyone talking Wednesday.
Leading off the third inning, Johnson tried to bunt his way on. As the ball rolled down the first-base line, Twins 1B Justin Morneau headed for the bag. Livan Hernandez ran for the ball but got there too late, in his mind, to pick it up and throw it. So he kicked it. His aim was dead-on and the ball carried straight into Morneau's glove for the putout.
Rays players and coaches got a perfect view of the play from the first-base dugout and they gave it a standing ovation, with more than a few caps tipped in the direction of Hernandez and Morneau.
"That was awesome," Rays SS Jason Bartlett said. "Usually you'd see that and you'd get mad about it, but it was so amazing that everybody in our dugout was taking their hat off and just bowing to him. To kick it and to hit it in the air right at Morneau's glove is impossible, but he did it."
It's fair to say no one but Hernandez was expecting it.
"I was in shock," Morneau told reporters in the Twins' clubhouse. "If it turns out bad, it's an ugly play, but it turned out perfect."
COMMON GROUND?: Maddon's former team, the Angels, has had a surplus of outfielders all spring and is in desperate need of starting pitching, making the Rays a logical match for a potential trade.
The Angels have lost Kelvim Escobar for the season with a shoulder injury and John Lackey is expected to be out until at least mid-May with a triceps problem. The Rays are believed to be willing to deal from their pitching depth to get an outfielder, and the Angels wouldn't be able to carry both switch-hitter Reggie Willits and lefty-swinging Nathan Haynes on their bench to start the year.
The Rays have two starters in their rotation who are out of options in Edwin Jackson and Jason Hammel, one of whom might have to go anyway whenever Scott Kazmir returns, and other arms in the minors that might be available in the right deal.
As the Rays' roster stands right now, Eric Hinske likely would make the team as a reserve outfielder, with Johnson or Jonny Gomes backing up B.J. Upton in center field.
NOTEWORTHY: Opening Day starter James Shields threw about 60 pitches in four innings in his final tune-up before he takes the mound Monday in Baltimore. Shields allowed four runs, only two of them earned, but said he thought he threw some good pitches. ... Maddon said he was impressed with RHP Scott Munter's two innings of work.
Marc Lancaster
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