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Rays get Greinke this time out

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2009

Updated: 07/18/2009 12:36 am

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - After avoiding him in a three-game series at Tropicana Field in early June, the Rays will face Royals stalwart Zack Greinke tonight.

Greinke, a former Gatorade National Player of the Year out of Apopka High School, hasn't beaten the Rays during his roller-coaster six-year major-league career as a starter and reliever, but he is 10-5 with an AL-leading 2.12 ERA this year.

He has been one of the biggest stories in the majors this season (he was the subject of a Sports Illustrated cover story in the May 4 issue) because of his success after battling social anxiety disorder and depression. He also is something of a cult figure in Kansas City because of his off-center personality.

Current Rays are a combined 9-for-56 against the right-hander, who throws everything from sub-60-mph breaking balls to a fastball in the upper 90s. Carl Crawford is 1-for-13, Carlos Pena 2-for-15, Evan Longoria 0-for-3 and B.J. Upton 0-for-6.

"He's got, like, five different pitches, and he throws them all at different speeds," Upton said. "So you never know what you're getting."

Ben Zobrist, who went 1-for-2 with a triple against Greinke last year, said what he remembers most is "all of his pitches have a lot of life."

Greinke began the season by not allowing a run in his first 24 innings, which, combined with a season-ending run of 14 scoreless innings last year, gave him 38 consecutive scoreless innings. At one point, he was 6-0 with a 0.40 ERA.

He showed Rays and AL All-Star Team manager Joe Maddon his stuff Tuesday night, pitching a scoreless fourth inning, and he sounds fairly confident about facing the Rays.

"The way I look at their lineup, they've got a bunch of power and a bunch of strikeouts," Greinke said. "One or the other is going to win, probably. I feel like with that team, if you pitch good you'll win, and if you pitch bad, they will crush you."

Back in the fold

3B Longoria and C Dioner Navarro were in the lineup Friday night, although Maddon said he will ease Navarro in until he's certain he has no residual effects from the foul ball he took to the facemask Saturday.

As of Friday evening, Maddon planned to start Navarro every other day for a few days, meaning Michel Hernandez would catch Scott Kazmir tonight.

Longoria said antibiotics have cleared up the infection in his right ring finger and a related lymph node issue that kept him out of the All-Star Game. All that remains is a small incision where the infection was drained.

He said doctors don't know what caused the infection.

"I guess there could be a million reasons," he said. "Some dirt could have gotten underneath my fingernail and infected it. I mean, I bite my nails, so that could have had something to do with it. I could have gotten a splinter from a bat in there and didn't feel it."

Proud occasion

Maddon said he was moved by his visit Friday to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, where he was presented the museum organization's 2008 Al Manager of the Year Award.

Maddon and his coaching staff toured the museum, and Maddon received his award on the "Field of Dreams," featuring life-size statues of the Negro Leagues' greatest stars.

"The museum is not big, but it's powerful, and it's run really well," Maddon said. "Marketing director Bob Kendrick is really knowledgeable in regard to all the memorabilia and players and their careers.

"The last part is the award is given to me on a field with the best Negro players of all-time basically surrounding you. So, it was pretty neat."

The Rays also made a $5,000 donation to the museum through the Rays Baseball Foundation.

Tony Fabrizio

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