Upton takes BP

By ROGER MOONEY
rmooney@bradenton.com
PORT CHARLOTTE — B.J. Upton took batting practice on the stadium field at Charlotte Sports Park on Saturday morning, joining the rest of the Rays players in a morning workout for the first time this spring.

The center fielder, who is still rehabbing from surgery last November to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, drove line drives around the field and sent a few baseballs over the fences.

“Yeah, it was surprising,” Upton said. “I didn’t think I had it. Obviously, the strength’s not all the way there yet. It was nice to see a couple of balls jump out. That was good.”

Rays athletic trainer Ron Porterfield suggested Upton join the team for pregame batting practice instead of hitting by himself in the batting cage or on a back field.

“Ronnie felt by having him involved with the group on the field he might just pick it up a little more,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Upton did. But while he looked fine, Upton said the shoulder is not quite ready to allow him to play in spring games.

“It’s coming along,” Upton said. “Still not the way I want to feel, but obviously, there will come a point where it’s probably not going to get any better. So I just have to figure out when that is.”

Upton said he might be a week of two away from playing in a game. As for opening Day on April 6 in Boston, Upton remains optimistic but knows the cold weather expected in Boston could keep him back in Tampa Bay for the first week of the season.

“I don’t know. It’s going to depend on how I feel and what they want me to do.,” Upton said. “The cold weather is going to be a factor, so we’ll just see the next couple of weeks where I’m at. It’s still a possibility that I could start the season on time.”

Maddon is pleased with Upton’s progress, but isn’t ready to put a timetable on Upton’s return.

“There’s been no setbacks,” Maddon said. “He’s doing well. When you talk to him, there’s a smile. He’s feeling good. So we don’t know specifically when he’ll be back, but he’s on task. He should be right on target. I don’t know if that will be the beginning of the season or slightly into the season, but everything is going well.”

Weber’s big day
Outfielder Jon Weber, who spent last year at Triple A Durham, set a Rays record for RBIs in a spring game with six in the Rays 15-7 victory Saturday against the visiting Red Sox. The previous record was shared by Jose Canseco, Randy Winn and Jonny Gomes.

Weber hit a three-run double in the fifth and a three-run homer in the eighth.
His home run was an opposite field shot that landed in the visiting bullpen in left field.

“If he hitting two-strike line drives to left field that happen to be home runs, I’m good with it,” Maddon said.

Weber is batting .312 with a team-high eight RBIs.

Balfour bruises pitching arm
Grant Balfour took a line drive off his right (pitching) arm in the fourth inning while pitching to Nick Green. Balfour picked up the ball and threw Green out at first to end the innings and his day.

“I got out of the inning. That’s the main thing,” Balfour said.
He wore a white protective sleeve on his right arm. A bandage covered his arm from the forearm to the biceps.

Balfour said the ball hit him on the inside of the elbow. It’s officially listed as a contusion.

He said his return to the mound depends on how the arm feels Sunday. If there is swelling, Balfour will likely miss his next scheduled outing.

Shields returns
James Shields returned to the mound on Saturday for the first time since Game 2 of the World Series and worked the first two innings against the Red Sox.

“I’m not going to lie,” Shields said, “I’m kind of glad they didn’t bring their A squad.”

Facing a Boston lineup without its big guns, Shields allowed a run on two hits. He struck out two.

“It was what you would expect,” Maddon said. “I just liked the way he threw the ball. It looked familiar.”

Shields said he was a little nervous when he woke Saturday morning and was a bit confused during his pregame preparations, arriving in the dugout 10 minutes before he normally would.

He felt fine in the first inning but struggled somewhat in the second. Shields, who was on a 30-pitch count, threw only 22 in his two innings and lobbied for a third inning, but was told to take the rest of the day off.

“The first inning, my body was where it needed to be, therefore, my pitches were where they needed to be,” Shields said. “The second inning, I was rushing a little bit, but it’s spring training.”

We have a name for the lake
Outfielder Ray Sadler became the first player to hit a ball into the lake behind left field at Charlotte Sports Park when he sent a two-run blast over the left field bullpen and boardwalk and into the water.

“That was crushed,” Maddon said.

Maddon, as you might expect, has a name for the lake: “Los Lagas des Derechos,” which he said translates in the “The lakes of the right handers.”

NOTEWORTHY
The injury to Mike Joyce’s lower right leg might be more serious than he let on. The team is supposed to make an announcement Sunday ... Jason Hammel allowed four runs in three innings. His problem was pitch-selection, according to Maddon ... The Red Sox committed six errors that led to nine unearned runs ... Rocco Baldelli might be in the Red Sox lineup Sunday when they play host to the Rays in Fort Myers ... Stephen King, noted author and Red Sox fan, attended the game. He was given a Charlotte Stone Crabs hat ... The crowd of 7,147 was a stadium record and the largest to see a Rays spring game played at either Al Lang Field or Charlotte Sports Park.