The Tampa Bay Rays find themselves in eerily familiar territory in late September: needing to win, and need American League rivals to lose.
Joe Maddon and the Rays are putting their best foot forward Tuesday night in Boston, as Rays superstar Evan Longoria is starting at third base, rather than designated hitter. Longoria has not played much in the field since returning from the disabled list, as the Rays try to keep Longoria healthy.
Both Joe Maddon and Bobby Valentine have announced the starting lineups for Tuesday's game, and they are as follows:
Tampa Bay Rays
LF Desmond Jennings
CF B.J. Upton
SS Ben Zobrist
3B Evan Longoria
DH Luke Scott
2B Jeff Keppinger
RF Matt Joyce
1B Carlos Pena
C Jose Molina
SP David Price
Boston Red Sox
DH Pedro Ciriaco
LF Daniel Nava
2B Dustin Pedroia
RF Cody Ross
1B Mauro Gomez
C Ryan Lavarnway
3B Danny Valencia
CF Che-Hsuan Lin
SS Jose Iglesias
SP Clay Buchholz
While the Rays are putting an ideal lineup on the field, the Red Sox are putting together one of their weaker lineups in recent years. We'll see if that translates into a Rays victory.