Rays' Carl Crawford in select company

It took a while for Carl Crawford to appreciate what he did to collect his third career inside-the-park home run Monday night.

"At the time, you're not thinking about nothing but just trying to score," Crawford said Tuesday. "But after you do it you think it's kind of nice because only a select few people can do it and you're in that group of people. That always feels nice."

Crawford's fourth-inning race around the U.S. Cellular Field bases left him tied for the most inside-the-park jaunts among active players with Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey Jr., Jimmy Rollins and Randy Winn.

Crawford also has a straight steal of home to his credit as a big-leaguer, on July 5, 2006, against the Red Sox. Asked Tuesday which is the more impressive feat of the two, Crawford voted for the non-traditional round-tripper.

"It's probably a little bit better than stealing home, because it counts as a home run and that's the best stat you ever want to get," Crawford said. "It's a little more exciting than when you steal home."

His manager, Joe Maddon, came down on the other side when the question was put to him.

Maddon noted that inside-the-park home runs can come on fluke plays, whereas a true steal of home is all skill and timing.

"From a fan's perspective, I think a straight-up steal of home, if you're able to do that, that may be the coolest play that you can perform on this field," Maddon said. "Because not everybody can. I know not everybody can hit an inside-the-park homer, but with an impossible carom, guy hits the wall, gets knocked out, you can still hit an inside-the-park homer."

Kazmir watch

Scott Kazmir came through his Monday bullpen session without any residual soreness Tuesday, leaving him on track to make his next scheduled start Thursday.

Maddon said he expects Kazmir to take the ball in the White Sox series finale, and Kazmir concurred shortly after playing catch with third base coach Tom Foley as head trainer Ron Porterfield looked on. Assuming no aftereffects from the left arm cramps that forced him out of his start last weekend resurface today, he should be fine.

"The only thing that might push me back a day is if I feel sore today or something like that, just for some odd reason," Kazmir said. "That would be only a precaution, maybe one day or something like that, but as of right now we're ready to go."

Right said Joe

Maddon went to extremes to stack his lineup with right-handed hitters Tuesday against White Sox LHP Clayton Richard, who holds lefties to a batting average 120 points lower than righties.

Crawford and Carlos Pena opened the game on the bench and Willy Aybar (1B), Gabe Kapler (LF) and Joe Dillon (2B) all made the starting lineup. Dillon's start was his first since June 8 and his first in the field for the Rays.

With his regular cleanup hitter out, Maddon gave Ben Zobrist his first big-league start in the fourth spot. It was his first start at cleanup since 2005, when he was with Single-A Lexington in the Astros' system.

"I kind of like this stuff," Maddon said of his unorthodox lineup. "I like keeping everybody involved; I think it's good for the esprit de corps of the group."