Rodriguez makes more noise with bat

If Sean Rodriguez makes the Rays' Opening Day roster, it will be largely because he can play both middle infield positions and any of three outfield spots.

But Rodriguez continues to make his biggest impression with his bat. After hitting homers in each of his first two spring games, he took Phil Hughes deep his first time up Friday against the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field.

Then he tripled to drive in a run in the second inning off Joba Chamberlain and doubled over CF Curtis Granderson's head in the fourth off Kevin Whelan in the Rays' 12-7 victory at Steinbrenner Field.

Rodriguez never got a chance at the single he needed to hit for the cycle, because it's spring training and Joe Maddon had Fernando Perez pinch hit for him in the sixth inning.

But he's batting .833 (5-for-6) with three homers and five extra-base hits after three games.

"It's the big man upstairs," Rodriguez said, giving credit for his hot start. "It's unreal."

Rodriguez started in left field after playing shortstop Thursday. He made an aggressive mistake that helped Francisco Cervelli get a triple in the third inning. Trying to cut off a hard shot to left, he rolled and came up throwing only to drop the ball in the process.

"I kind of rolled over on my wrist, and just for a second my wrist went numb," Rodriguez said. "I thought the ball was still in the glove."

Maddon again compared Rodriguez to Ben Zobrist, the Rays super utility man who started at seven positions last year and stayed in the lineup because of his .297 average.

"If you watch him do his work, they're very similar," Maddon said. "They're very dedicated. The don't complain. 'Put my name in there; I don't care where it is.' It's very refreshing and comforting, because ... you can move things around because of those guys."

Game stuff

LHP David Price exceeded his allotted pitch count before completing two innings, so Maddon pulled him after a 12/3 innings with two on and the Rays leading 1-0.

"That's about eight pitches an out, but I'm not going to harp on that right now," Price said after allowing two hits, walking one and throwing one wild pitch in his 42 pitches.

Price averaged 17.8 pitches per inning last year, which would have been the highest in the AL if he had had enough innings to qualify.

SS Jason Bartlett and INF Reid Brignac each went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Elliot Johnson went 2-for-3 with one RBI. Brignac and Johnson are battling for roster spots, and they're hitting .571 and .500, respectively.

Sign this, please

Maddon chatted during warm-ups with 84-year-old Yankees legend Yogi Berra, whom he says he became friends with through Rays senior baseball advisor and former Yankees coach Don Zimmer.

"He'll always ask questions based on our previous conversation, which I've always found impressive," Maddon said. "The other thing is, he has a bit of likeness to my dad, facially, so when I look at him, it's kind of weird. ...

"To be able to sit down and just (visit) with Yogi Berra is kind of cool."

Berra also had an unexpected request: He asked Rays 3B Evan Longoria to sign a ball.

"He feels as though Longo reminds him of Joe DiMaggio a bit, so I thought that was kind of interesting," Maddon said.

Odds and ends

Today's first of six spring meetings between the Rays and Red Sox is sold out at Charlotte Sports Park. Andy Sonnanstine will pitch for the Rays, followed by Wade Davis. ... The Rays want to keep LHP J.P. Howell from wearing down, so they'll pitch him only six or seven times this spring, counting down from the end of camp. Howell said he expects to pitch March 15. ... Maddon said INF Willy Aybar (sprained left wrist) was "real chipper" when the two spoke Friday morning and has had "no issues" while playing catch and taking light swings.

Tony Fabrizio