Rays SPRING TRAINING

By MARC TOPKIN
Published February 19, 2008

EVAN LONGORIA

Quote of the day

"It made me giggle. ... That's Percy. That's classic."

Manager Joe Maddon, right, on the "customized" jersey Troy Percival wore Monday (see below).

Number of the day

2:11:13Team president Matt Silverman's time in Sunday's Austin (Texas) Half-Marathon. "It was hilly," Silverman said.

Did you know?

INF/OF Eric Hinske, a Wisconsin native, is a big Green Bay Packers fan. He showed it by sitting in the stands for the entire NFC Championship Game, which was played in arctic conditions. "And I paid for it because I was sick for like five days," Hinske said. Worse, of course, was that the Packers lost. And that Hinske, who lives in Arizona, went to the Super Bowl anyway.

Who's on third?

A daily look at the Rays' biggest positional issue:

Longoria continues to be the leader by default as Joel Guzman, upper left, and Willy Aybar haven't arrived, but Eric Hinske, lower right, could become a candidate.

The dish ...

Today's workout for pitchers and catchers will start about 10 a.m. and continue until about noon at the Naimoli complex, 7901 30th Ave. N. Pitchers scheduled to throw bullpen sessions, starting about 10:40, include Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann and James Shields. Admission and parking are free.

Info: 1-888-326-7297(FAN-RAYS)

List of the day

LF Carl Crawford enters this spring as one of the game's most successful hitters over the past five seasons:

Hits

Player, team '03-07

Ichiro Suzuki, M's 1,142

Michael Young, Texas 1,059

Juan Pierre, Dodgers1,066

Derek Jeter, Yankees 966

Albert Pujols, Cards 965

Jimmy Rollins, Phils 954

Miguel Tejada, Astros 945

Carl Crawford, Rays 923

Todd Helton, Rockies 905

Carlos Lee, Astros 902

Source: Rays

Random note

The Rays brought in veteran umpire supervisor Richie Garcia to discuss the catcher-umpire relationship. With several young catchers in camp (Dioner Navarro, Shawn Riggans, John Jaso, Matt Spring), the Rays wanted him to discuss things such as how a catcher sets up, communication and how best to display displeasure, and considered the session a huge hit. "A lot of common-sensical things," manager Joe Maddon said.

Rays exhibition schedule

Games at Progress Energy Park, St. Petersburg

Tickets: Field box ($20), loge box ($17), grandstand ($15), general admission berm ($7). Available at raysbaseball.com, through Ticketmaster and at Tropicana Field box office. All games 1:05 p.m. unless noted.

February

29 - at Reds

March

1 - Blue Jays

2 - at Pirates

3 - at Tigers

4 - Twins

5 - Astros

6 - at Phillies

7 - Phillies

8 - at Yankees, 1:15

9 - Reds

10 - Indians

11 - at Twins

12 - Yankees

13 - at Red Sox

14 - Blue Jays

15 - at Braves (ss)

15 - at Yankees (ss), 1:15

16 - Tigers

18 - at Phillies

19 - Phillies

20 - at Indians

21 - at Yankees, 7:15

22 - Pirates

23 - at Reds

24 - Pirates

25 - at Blue Jays

26 - at Twins

27 - at Indians

28 - Reds

29 - at Reds

[Last modified February 18, 2008, 23:35:09]