--CF B.J. Upton is in no danger of being dropped from the leadoff spot, according to manager Joe Maddon, despite his extended struggles. Maddon points out that Upton is still getting on base and believes he just needs more reps. "I think keeping him at the top, he's getting plenty of at-bats," Maddon said. "These are the situations I want him to work through, because when he gets that going, we get going."
--Veteran LF Carl Crawford acknowledges that the Rays' slow start has been very frustrating. "We're in last place," he said. "We're not off to a hot start. We have to turn it around at some point if we're thinking about doing what we did last year. We can't afford to keep losing series like we've been doing. I know it's still early, but at a certain point we have to get it together." BY THE NUMBERS: 1-7 -- The Rays' record through Sunday against left-handed starters despite signing Pat Burrell and Gabe Kapler to address that deficiency.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's not as awful as it seems. We're just not able to put things together with any kind of clumping where we can score some points." -- Manager Joe Maddon, on his team's extended slow offensive start.
