Having grown up and still living in Fresno, Calif., RHP Matt Garza will pitch as close to home as he can for the first time today when he starts against the A's.
But rather than get fired up by the opportunity to have his wife and kids, parents, brother and assorted other members of "the entire clan" watch him work, Garza - high-strung anyway - is making an effort to tone things down as much as possible.
That's not as much the result of the setting as the situation. He's coming off one of his worst outings, having walked a career-high five and allowed seven runs Sunday. He felt he was toofired up for that one.
"I think I put more on that start than I have on a lot of them," Garza said. "We were in that slide, and I wanted to be that guy and get us out of it, and I built up that start more than what it was.
"I didn't even build up Game 7 (of the American League Championship Series) that much. I put too much pressure on myself, and I didn't perform, and it all came crashing down and (ticked) me off.
"For me, less is more. ... I've just got to get back to what I do, and that's establish myself and establish my fastball and keep my emotions under control."
As for the friends and family, Garza said he told them he didn't want to get involved in the arrangements of who was coming and who needed tickets.
"Odds are the entire clan will be out there. And I'll say 'hi' after the game."
Fight club: Manager Joe Maddon has been pleased with the team's effort and intensity and said he took DH Pat Burrell's comment that the Rays "have to fight a little bit" to get out of their slump as a reference to more intense at-bats.
"I think he was talking about fighting to score runs," Maddon said. "He always grinds out his at-bats so much. I think most of our guys do that, but we need to step up our mentality a little bit. We've talked a lot about scoring runs with outs. So I like that."
Mad Aussie: Rays reliever Grant Balfour said his heated exchange with then-White Sox and now A's SS Orlando Cabrera in last year's division series opener was a good thing.
Cabrera didn't like Balfour's animated style, and after taking a pitch, he kicked dirt toward the mound. Balfour went at him, and C Dioner Navarro and umpire Joe West intervened.
"You're not going to sit there and let someone kick dirt in your face, in a sense," Balfour said Friday. "I wasn't going to take it. I wanted to show him basically that I'm not going to sit back and let you go ahead and try to have your way with me; I'm going to come right after you.
"It got me fired up. I like to get heated up, so it helped me to kind of have that little edge."
Balfour said he hadn't thought about the incident or Cabrera since until asked Friday, but "if the guy does it again, I'll probably do the same thing. And if he wants to charge the mound, I'm ready for that, too. I don't care."
Rehab report: RHP Jason Isringhausen threw another scoreless inning, walking one, for Double-A Montgomery in the second half of his back-to-back outings. He'll make one more appearance for the Biscuits, then move up to Triple-A Durham.
Longo list: In addition to getting to 100 RBIs third quickest (135 games) among active players, 3B Evan Longoria was fourth quickest among all AL players in the past 55 years, according to Stats Inc. Alvin Davis and Mark McGwire did it in 131, Fred Lynn in 133.
Miscellany: Maddon chose Gabe Gross to start in rightfield Friday based on his swing path matching up better than Ben Zobrist's with Oakland starter Trevor Cahill. ... The Rays can't get out of the cold. Game-time temperature Friday was 54 degrees, after 48 and 52 the previous two days in Seattle. ... Navarro is off today, and 1B Carlos Pena and 2B Akinori Iwamura are likely to be off Sunday. ... Sports psychologist Ken Ravizza joined the team for the weekend. ... Senior VP/chief sales officer Mark Fernandez was elected to the board of directors of the Helios Education Foundation, a philanthropic organization focusing on education in Arizona and Florida.
Rays all-time HR leaders
Aubrey Huff.........128
Fred McGriff.........99
Carlos Pena.........83
Carl Crawford.......70
Johnny Gomes............66
Greg Vaughn........60
Rocco Baldelli.............52
Jorge Cantu.........44
Toby Hall............44
Jose Canseco.......43
Travis Lee...........42
Julio Lugo..................40
Ty Wiggington............40
Steve Cox....................39
B.J. Upton...........38
John Flaherty.......35
Ben Grieve..................34
Bubba Trammel....33
Evan Longoria......32
Damon Hollins............28
Paul Sorrento.......25
Jared Sandberg..........25
Gerald Williams.........24
* * *
Rays strikeout leaders
Scott Kazmir........768
James Shields......461
Victor Zambrano....372
Esteban Yan........351
Ryan Rupe...........348
Brian Rekar..........292
Wilson Alvarez.....291
Tanyan Sturtze.....285
Travis Harper.......271
Paul Wilson.........270
Casey Fossum......269
Joe Kennedy........264
Edwin Jackson......263
Albie Lopez..........262
Rolando Arrojo.....259
Andy Sonnanstine.233
Mark Hendrickson..227
Jorge Sosa...........214
Tony Saunders......202
Jesus Colome.......201
Roberto Hernandez ..185
J.P. Howell...........183
Rays wins leaders
Scott Kazmir........49
Victor Zambrano...35
James Shields......34
Albie Lopez.........26
Esteban Yan........26
Mark Hendrickson..25
Ryan Rupe...........23
Travis Harper.......22
Rolando Arrojo.....21
Casey Fossum......19
Edwin Jackson......19
Andy Sonnanstine..19
Tanyan Sturtze.....19
Joe Kennedy........18
Brian Rekar..........18
Wilson Alvarez.....17
Seth McClung.......17
Paul Wilson.........15
R. Bell................14
Jim Mecir.............14
Doug Waechter.....14
Lance Carter........13
Matt Garza..........12
Jesus Colome.......11
Jorge Sosa...........11
* * *
Rays salaries
Carl Crawford.....................$8,250,000
Carlos Pena........................8,000,000
Pat Burrell..........................7,000,000
Scott Kazmir.......................6,000,000
Troy Percival........................4,445,000
dl-Chad Bradford..................3,666,667
Akinori Iwamura..................3,250,000
Dan Wheeler.......................3,200,000
Dioner Navarro....................2,100,000
Jason Bartlett.....................1,981,250
James Shields.....................1,500,000
Grant Balfour......................1,400,000
Brian Shouse......................1,350,000
Joe Nelson.........................1,300,000
Jeff Niemann......................1,290,000
Gabe Gross........................1,255,000
Gabe Kapler.......................1,000,018
Willy Aybar...........................975,000
dl-Jason Isringhausen.............750,000
Lance Cormier........................675,000
Evan Longoria........................550,000
dl-B.J. Upton.........................435,000
J.P. Howell............................433,700
Matt Garza............................433,300
Andy Sonnanstine..................430,100
Ben Zobrist...........................415,900
Shawn Riggans......................413,900
