Evan Longoria made the bus trip down here Sunday, the third consecutive spring training road game in which he has appeared. He even made the dreaded haul across the state to Jupiter last week. ...more

March 8, 2009

The Rays expect Matt Joyce back on the field this week, executive vice president Andrew Friedman said Sunday, quelling fears that the Armwood High product might have a serious problem with his right leg. Friedman said the outfielder, who has been sidelined all spring by a mysterious injury which has been alternately described as a calf or ankle problem, is suffering from tendinitis. ...more

March 8, 2009

Alex Rodriguez will have arthroscopic hip surgery Monday and is expected to miss six to nine weeks. The Yankees slugger will need further surgery after the season. ...more

March 8, 2009

Sometime Tuesday afternoon, after Matt Garza and Andy Sonnanstine pitch a couple of innings each in their first appearances of the spring, David Price will stare down an opposing hitter for the first time since Game 5 of the World Series. ...more

March 7, 2009

With no reason to be distracted, Jason Kubel is off to a strong start this spring. ...more

March 7, 2009

James Shields is now the official ace of the Rays' staff — for what that's worth. On this team, I suspect it's not worth much because the Rays' rotation is the deepest part of a really deep team. On many clubs, Scott Kazmir would be the unquestioned stud. On many clubs, Matt Garza would be the ace. Here, he's No. 3. Andy Sonnanstine is as solid as it gets at No. 4. And in a couple of years, we could be writing about the choice of David Price as Opening Day starter. ...more

March 5, 2009

In typical Carlos Pena fashion, the slugger insisted Wednesday that sitting out the first week or so of spring training games as he recovers from January abdominal surgery has actually taught him quite a bit. ...more

March 5, 2009

Rick Porcello's inexperience showed. So did his talent. ...more

March 4, 2009

The Tampa Bay area remains the spring training baseball capital of Florida, with the Yankees, Phillies and Blue Jays playing spring home games at Tampa, Clearwater and Dunedin, respectively. ...more

March 4, 2009

Derek Jeter finally got to experience playing against the New York Yankees. ...more

March 4, 2009