I’ve noticed a trend among the guys at Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, and ESPN where they constantly list Brooklyn as a potential destination for the Oakland A’s, The Tampa Bay Rays, or a future expansion team.

So, I thought I’d ask around.

The official response from the Vice President of Communications for the Tampa Bay Rays, Rick Vaughn? “No comment”.

As much as I’d love to see the Dodgers come back to Brooklyn, there’s no chance the MLB will let a team leave a market the size of Los Angeles … Then again, although LA is the second largest media market, the Rams and Raiders did split town in 1994.

There are a lot of pros for a team coming to Brooklyn, the least of which being the lucrative television deal awaiting whoever gets their first from Cablevision, whose MSG property has been without baseball since the YES Network started. Not to mention, Fox Sports New York has been without the Mets since they launched SNY.

Based on the television deal the Lakers got, which will pretty much fund the team for the life of the deal, and the considerable attendance achievements of the Brooklyn Cyclones (the Mets Single A team), Brooklyn is a viable baseball destination.

The main con, right now*, is that the team coming to Brooklyn probably won’t be the Dodgers. And if that’s the case, would Brooklyn still want them?

The last thing I think anyone would want is a situation like what the NHL has with the Winnipeg Jets. The original Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes, so everything that belonged to the original Jets are still owned by the Coyotes. The new Jets are Jets in name only.

I’m not quite sure how old school Dodgers fans would feel about not being able to hear “Follow The Dodgers” at a game in Brooklyn.

*The other problem, identified by Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Moskowitz, is the lack of space. The only space he mentioned that could hold a new ballpark are the Coney Island Railyards. Otherwise the team is going to wind up in the same situation Walter O’Malley found himself in: Needing the city to use eminent domain to allow the team to redevelop an area for them to have a new ballpark.

The difference today, and the thing that works in a new Brooklyn team’s favor, is the Supreme Court case Kelo v. City Of New London. Something we’ll talk about in another blog post.

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

Posted: Aug 31, 2011 05:11 PM

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The Tampa Rays have confirmed they will call up OF Brandon Guyer from Triple-A Durham when rosters are expanded on Thursday and will activate OF Justin Ruggiano off the DL.

Guyer, acquired from the Cubs in the Matt Garza deal, hit . 312 with 14 homers and 61 RBIs in 107 games for Triple-A Durham. In two brief stints with the Rays he was 1-for-6 with a memorable homer in his first plate appearance in the majors in Baltimore.

Ruggiano has been out since Aug. 7 with left knee bursitis. He hit .255 with 4 homers and 13 RBIs in 38 games for the Rays after his promotion from Durham.

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“He pitched great. We’ve just got to figure out how to beat some of these pitchers we’re facing. Too many 1-0, 2-0 losses. We’ve got to get beyond that. There are no excuses,” manager Joe Maddon said. “He had to pitch through some land mines to keep it at two runs. We did some really good things. He didn’t cave in by any means.”

Tampa Bay managed three singles and hit only a few balls out of the infield against Scott Feldman (1-0) and four Rangers relievers.

Hellickson (11-10) was cruising along until his first pitch of the sixth, which Josh Hamilton hit deep into a second deck of seats in right field. It landed an estimated 449 feet from home plate, his 19th homer, and broke a scoreless tie.

“It was right down the middle, right where he likes it,” Hellickson said.

“That was monster, and we needed it,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “That young kid can pitch. I thought we were taking some good swings at him. He was all around the strike zone, and finally left one up to Hamilton. Then Mike got him, then Murphy got him and then it started.”

Michael Young followed with a double before consecutive singles by Mike Napoli and David Murphy, the second sending Young home.

“I didn’t feel tired. I just missed with some pitches and they took advantage of it,” Hellickson said. “They’re a very good lineup. I thought I pitched well enough, pitched out of a few bases-loaded jams. It could have gotten out of hand. That one inning, I missed my spot a few times. … A few pitches got away from me.”

Hellickson is 1-3 in his five August starts despite a 2.49 ERA in that span. He struck out four and walked four, two of those intentional, while giving up two runs and six hits.

The Rangers still had the bases loaded after scoring twice in the sixth before Ian Kinsler, the last batter Hellickson faced, hit an inning-ending flyball on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.

Texas also had the bases loaded in the fourth, when Hamilton had a leadoff double. Young and Napoli both struck out before Murphy was intentionally walked and Yorvit Torrealba drew a walk. But Hellickson got Mitch Moreland on a flyball.

Feldman threw six scoreless innings while allowing only two singles in a spot start when the Rangers decided to skip 10-game winner Matt Harrison to give him an extended break. Feldman limited the Rays to two singles.

“He’s a sinker kind of guy. That’s what he does. There’s not much you can do about it,” B.J. Upton said. “We didn’t elevate the ball much which is what you’re gonna do against him.”

The only balls Tampa Bay hit out of the infield against Feldman (1-0) were the two singles he allowed. There were 12 groundouts, four strikeouts and two runners caught stealing in the 18 outs recorded while he was on the mound.

Feldman struck out four with one walk while throwing 88 pitches, right in the range of what Washington had said before the game.

“He had given us everything he needed to give us,” Washington said. “He kept it down in the zone and did an outstanding job.”

Mark Lowe, Darren Oliver and Mike Adams combined for two no-hit innings to set up Neftali Feliz for his 26th save in 32 chances. It was the Rangers’ 16th shutout this season.

The Rays, held scoreless for the 13th time this season, had two runners on with no outs and got two balls out of the infield in the ninth. But Feliz finally got out of the jam when Evan Longoria grounded into a game-ending double play.

The Rays had hit 10 homers in their previous series against Toronto, a team-record for a series. But their bats went mostly silent in their first game at Texas since last season’s AL playoffs.

Notes: The 13 shutouts for Tampa Bay are the most since 2004, when they also had 13. A dozen of those have come since June 1, a span of 80 games. … Murphy has started four consecutive games, going 7 for 15 in that stretch. … The Rangers are 43-27 at home. … Along with Hamilton’s long homer, the reigning AL MVP also had two big swings when the bat slipped out of his hands. One of them landed about 10 rows behind the Rangers dugout, in some empty seats, and the other wound up coming to rest in foul territory past first base near coach Gary Pettis.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays wasted another solid performance by Jeremy Hellickson with their quiet bats.

Hellickson allowed two runs in six innings against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers in a 2-0 loss Tuesday night, the 10th time this season the Rays scored one run or less while the rookie right-hander was on the mound.

“He pitched great. We’ve just got to figure out how to beat some of these pitchers we’re facing. Too many 1-0, 2-0 losses. We’ve got to get beyond that. There are no excuses,” manager Joe Maddon said. “He had to pitch through some land mines to keep it at two runs. We did some really good things. He didn’t cave in by any means.”

Tampa Bay managed three singles and hit only a few balls out of the infield against Scott Feldman (1-0) and four Rangers relievers.

Hellickson (11-10) was cruising along until his first pitch of the sixth, which Josh Hamilton hit deep into a second deck of seats in right field. It landed an estimated 449 feet from home plate, his 19th homer, and broke a scoreless tie.

“It was right down the middle, right where he likes it,” Hellickson said.

“That was monster, and we needed it,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “That young kid can pitch. I thought we were taking some good swings at him. He was all around the strike zone, and finally left one up to Hamilton. Then Mike got him, then Murphy got him and then it started.”

Michael Young followed with a double before consecutive singles by Mike Napoli and David Murphy, the second sending Young home.

“I didn’t feel tired. I just missed with some pitches and they took advantage of it,” Hellickson said. “They’re a very good lineup. I thought I pitched well enough, pitched out of a few bases-loaded jams. It could have gotten out of hand. That one inning, I missed my spot a few times. … A few pitches got away from me.”

Hellickson is 1-3 in his five August starts despite a 2.49 ERA in that span. He struck out four and walked four, two of those intentional, while giving up two runs and six hits.

The Rangers still had the bases loaded after scoring twice in the sixth before Ian Kinsler, the last batter Hellickson faced, hit an inning-ending flyball on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.

Texas also had the bases loaded in the fourth, when Hamilton had a leadoff double. Young and Napoli both struck out before Murphy was intentionally walked and Yorvit Torrealba drew a walk. But Hellickson got Mitch Moreland on a flyball.

Feldman threw six scoreless innings while allowing only two singles in a spot start when the Rangers decided to skip 10-game winner Matt Harrison to give him an extended break. Feldman limited the Rays to two singles.

“He’s a sinker kind of guy. That’s what he does. There’s not much you can do about it,” B.J. Upton said. “We didn’t elevate the ball much which is what you’re gonna do against him.”

The only balls Tampa Bay hit out of the infield against Feldman (1-0) were the two singles he allowed. There were 12 groundouts, four strikeouts and two runners caught stealing in the 18 outs recorded while he was on the mound.

Feldman struck out four with one walk while throwing 88 pitches, right in the range of what Washington had said before the game.

“He had given us everything he needed to give us,” Washington said. “He kept it down in the zone and did an outstanding job.”

Mark Lowe, Darren Oliver and Mike Adams combined for two no-hit innings to set up Neftali Feliz for his 26th save in 32 chances. It was the Rangers’ 16th shutout this season.

The Rays, held scoreless for the 13th time this season, had two runners on with no outs and got two balls out of the infield in the ninth. But Feliz finally got out of the jam when Evan Longoria grounded into a game-ending double play.

The Rays had hit 10 homers in their previous series against Toronto, a team-record for a series. But their bats went mostly silent in their first game at Texas since last season’s AL playoffs.

Notes: The 13 shutouts for Tampa Bay are the most since 2004, when they also had 13. A dozen of those have come since June 1, a span of 80 games. … Murphy has started four consecutive games, going 7 for 15 in that stretch. … The Rangers are 43-27 at home. … Along with Hamilton’s long homer, the reigning AL MVP also had two big swings when the bat slipped out of his hands. One of them landed about 10 rows behind the Rangers dugout, in some empty seats, and the other wound up coming to rest in foul territory past first base near coach Gary Pettis.

Rays Report

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Wednesday, August 31, 2011

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Rays at Rangers

When/where: 8:05 tonight; Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas

TV/radio: Sun Sports; 620-AM, 680-AM (Spanish)

Starting pitchers:

RAYS: RH James Shields (12-10, 2.96)

RANGERS: RH Alexi Ogando (12-6, 3.57)

Watch for …

Complete-game James: Shields is coming off his MLB-best 10th complete game, though pitching in Texas has been a challenge. He is 1-2, 5.14 and has allowed five homers in three starts there and is 3-2, 4.07 overall vs. Rangers.

The big O-no: After starting the season 7-0, 2.10 and earning selection to the All-Star team, Ogando is 5-6, 5.27 over his past 13 starts. He will be on five days’ rest, which should help. He has only faced the Rays in relief.

Key matchups

Rays vs. Ogando

Reid Brignac 0-for-1

Evan Longoria 0-for-1

B.J. Upton 2-for-2

Rangers vs. Shields

Elvis Andrus 5-for-9

Josh Hamilton 1-for-12

Ian Kinsler 4-for-15, 2 HRs

On deck

Thursday: at Rangers, 8:05, Sun Sports. Rays — Jeff Niemann (9-5, 3.46); Rangers — C.J. Wilson (13-6, 3.29).

Friday: vs. Orioles, 7:10. Sun Sports. Rays — David Price (12-11, 3.40); Orioles — Zach Britton (8-9, 4.28)

Saturday: vs. Orioles, 6:10, no TV. Rays — Wade Davis (8-8, 4.52); O’s — TBA

Sunday: vs. Orioles, 1:40, Sun Sports. Rays — Jeremy Hellickson (11-10, 3.01); O’s — Jeremy Guthrie (6-16, 4.42)

Marc Topkin, Times staff writer

Impressive number of the day

122.2 MPH of ball off Sean Rodriguez‘s bat for Sunday HR in Toronto, highest in MLB this season. “Pretty cool,” Rodriguez said. “I definitely hit it hard.”

Quote of the day

“That’s when I used to be good.”

C Kelly Shoppach, a Fort Worth native reflecting on his high school and college days.

Oppressive number of the day

102 First-pitch temperature for Tuesday’s game, the 14th straight and 25th overall of 100-plus at the Ballpark in Arlington.

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Read More: Jose Bautista (RF – TOR), DeWayne Wise (RF – TOR), Johnny Damon (DH – TAM), J.P. Howell (P – TAM), Yunel Escobar (SS – TOR), Wade Davis (P – TAM), Evan Longoria (3B – TAM), Desmond Jennings (LF – TAM), Eric Thames (RF – TOR), Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, Aug 29, 2011 7:07 PM EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays (73-60) could not complete the four game sweep today, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays in a 7-3 bout. Wade Davis (L, 8-8) started for the Rays, but could not finish the fifth frame in what turned out to be his second shortest outing of the season.

The game started out well enough for the Rays: A lead-off walk for Desmond Jennings turned into a two-run home run for Johnny Damon. Unfortunately, the 2-0 lead became a 3-2 deficit in the third inning, and by that point, it was becoming painfully plain that Davis did not have his good pitches or good fortunes at the ready.

The third started with an expedient swinging strike out of DeWayne Wise, but Yunel Escobar singled and Eric Thames (pronounced like an American would want to: thhhhh-aims) doubled. Jose Bautista, Destroyer of Worlds, then came to the plate and amazingly and mercifully only grounded out, putting the Jays on the board, but down 2-1.

Then Adam Lind, who looked at times goofy and lost during the at bat, worked a 2-2 count and then blasted a homer to deep right-center. At this point, the floodgates opened. The Jays scored over each of the following three innings, building their consummate 7-3 lead by the bottom of the 6th.

Notes:

• The Rays wasted a double-awesome game from Johnny Damon, who went 2 for 3 with a walk and a pair of dingers. He was the offense tonight.
• J.P. Howell had allowed no runs and only one hit through his last ten appearances, but The Bautista tired of Howell’s success, and Thor’d a homer to left in the sixth.
• Evan Longoria had quite the triple on the night. In the top of the third, Longo cracked a ball to left that had every appearance of leaving the playing area. Longo sure thought so: He was trotting the bases, blowing a pink bubble with his gum. Well, it fell just short of the wall, but Evan was able crank it to 11 and slide safely into third base.
• Bummer upon bummers: The Orioles refused to win yet another game, letting the Yankees beat them 3-2. That puts the Rays at 7.5 games back again. Sort of fortunately, the Rays play the Yankees for 7 out of their last 10 games, so they could — with a most improbable super double-sweep — make up quite a bit of ground at the end.

Read More: Jose Bautista (RF – TOR), DeWayne Wise (RF – TOR), Johnny Damon (DH – TAM), J.P. Howell (P – TAM), Yunel Escobar (SS – TOR), Wade Davis (P – TAM), Evan Longoria (3B – TAM), Desmond Jennings (LF – TAM), Eric Thames (RF – TOR), Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, Aug 29, 2011 7:07 PM EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays (73-60) could not complete the four game sweep today, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays in a 7-3 bout. Wade Davis (L, 8-8) started for the Rays, but could not finish the fifth frame in what turned out to be his second shortest outing of the season.

The game started out well enough for the Rays: A lead-off walk for Desmond Jennings turned into a two-run home run for Johnny Damon. Unfortunately, the 2-0 lead became a 3-2 deficit in the third inning, and by that point, it was becoming painfully plain that Davis did not have his good pitches or good fortunes at the ready.

The third started with an expedient swinging strike out of DeWayne Wise, but Yunel Escobar singled and Eric Thames (pronounced like an American would want to: thhhhh-aims) doubled. Jose Bautista, Destroyer of Worlds, then came to the plate and amazingly and mercifully only grounded out, putting the Jays on the board, but down 2-1.

Then Adam Lind, who looked at times goofy and lost during the at bat, worked a 2-2 count and then blasted a homer to deep right-center. At this point, the floodgates opened. The Jays scored over each of the following three innings, building their consummate 7-3 lead by the bottom of the 6th.

Notes:

• The Rays wasted a double-awesome game from Johnny Damon, who went 2 for 3 with a walk and a pair of dingers. He was the offense tonight.
• J.P. Howell had allowed no runs and only one hit through his last ten appearances, but The Bautista tired of Howell’s success, and Thor’d a homer to left in the sixth.
• Evan Longoria had quite the triple on the night. In the top of the third, Longo cracked a ball to left that had every appearance of leaving the playing area. Longo sure thought so: He was trotting the bases, blowing a pink bubble with his gum. Well, it fell just short of the wall, but Evan was able crank it to 11 and slide safely into third base.
• Bummer upon bummers: The Orioles refused to win yet another game, letting the Yankees beat them 3-2. That puts the Rays at 7.5 games back again. Sort of fortunately, the Rays play the Yankees for 7 out of their last 10 games, so they could — with a most improbable super double-sweep — make up quite a bit of ground at the end.

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Tuesday, August 30, 2011

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TORONTO — Seven pitches into Monday’s game, when Johnny Damon hit the first of his two homers, the Rays seemed like they could well have been headed to the repeat of Sunday’s powerful performance manager Joe Maddon wanted so much that he made the unusual move — for him, anyway — of starting the same lineup.

But with a struggling Wade Davis on the mound instead of David Price, the result was nothing like the same, an ugly 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays that was not much of an encore to Sunday’s 12-0 victory. “We just didn’t pitch well,” Maddon said.

The outcome wasn’t pretty, either, as with the Yankees winning in Baltimore, the Rays (73-60) — after winning three straight over the Jays — dropped back to 7½ games from the wild-card pace with 29 games left.

“It’s rough,” Davis said. “It’s tough on the team; it’s tough on me. We’re in a tough spot; we’re trying to battle uphill. We’ve just got to keep going.”

“Every game is big,” Damon said. “We just need to keep winning, keep winning series, and hopefully we’ll still be in good position come late September.”

Davis — winless for the month — was off from the start and lasted only 41/3 innings, the shortest start by a Ray since Jeremy Hellickson went 41/3 on Aug. 13 at New York. He allowed six runs on nine hits and three walks, throwing 108 pitches.

Staked to a 2-0 lead, he walked leadoff man Yunel Escobar then, after a fielder’s choice grounder, threw two wild pitches to No. 3 hitter Jose Bautista and ended up walking him, though a double play saved him from worse.

“Wade just had a hard time command-wise,” Maddon said. “The whole game he just could not find a rhythm with anything. Physically good stuff — high velocity number, decent break on the breaking ball — but overall just didn’t have command of what he was doing. And that pretty much hurt.”

What made it more frustrating, Davis said, was how strong he felt warming up: “I felt really good; I don’t know if that works against you. It’s just one of those things where you’re either going to dominate or you’re going to have a tough time.”

That 2-0 Rays lead was a 5-2 deficit by the time Damon hit his second homer in the fifth — his first multihomer game since Sept. 9, 2008, giving the Rays a team-record 10 for a series.

But — with the same lineup in consecutive games for just the eighth time all season — they couldn’t do much else offensively, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. There were their usual wasted opportunities, but the lack of production wasn’t all their own doing as three times — in the fifth, sixth and seventh — they hit, sharply, into double plays, Ben Zobrist twice and Sean Rodriguez once.

“They were all well-struck,” Maddon said. “That is just bad baseball luck right there.”

The defense wasn’t on, either, though again, the breaks didn’t go their way, such as the J.P. Arencibia fly to right that bounced over Matt Joyce’s head for a triple, an example, Maddon said, of flawed Astroturf.

“That’s the old-school, ’70s-Afro-blowing-in-the-wind bounce over the outfielder’s hair — and over his head, too,” Maddon said.

Just something else awry.

Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com.

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It is ever remarkable, but we’re still talking about the Tampa Bay Rays and their playoff chances.

They are the team that will not quite die.

They have seemed very much alive in Toronto, every bit as live as David Price’s left arm was Sunday as he struck out a franchise-record 14 Toronto Blue Jays. For good measure, the Rays scored a dozen runs.

Somehow, some way, they are still in it — forget the Boston Red Sox and first place, but they trail the New York Yankees by 6 1/2 games for the wild card, and as far back as that seems, Joe Maddon’s club easily could have gone away a month ago.

As hard as the Yankee bats have tried to beat this season into submission, the Rays’ arms have kept this race a race, longer than most of us expected.

You can’t quite stop paying attention to the Rays, not entirely at least, even with football looming.

They won’t quite go away.

Like I said, it’s remarkable.

It’s not going to be easy. I’ll give you an idea.

The Yankees are 79-42 and the Rays are 73-49. If the Yankees were to win 20 more games that would be 99, and the Rays would have to go 25-5 the rest of the way just for a tie. Even if the Yankees go 16-15, the Rays still would need to go 21-9 to forge a tie.

It’s a long, long shot.

On the other hand, the Rays and Yanks have seven games left, seven games over the last nine days of the season.

Part of me — actually, most of me — thinks the Rays’ playoffs hopes disappeared during that 10-game stretch in and around the All-Star break, when they went 4-6 combined against the Yankees and Red Sox when they really needed to go at least 7-3.

But they’re still in it, somehow, some way, and if Maddon isn’t manager of the year, he’s close.

Here was the bottom end of the Rays’ lineup Saturday in Toronto: B.J. Upton, Sean Rodriguez, Kelly Shoppach, Reid Brignac, Elliott Johnson.

Not one of them was hitting above .225. The last three were hitting below .200 — extraordinary stuff.

It speaks to that starting pitching, which also has been extraordinary. The way Price pitched Sunday, it makes you wonder if this team would be even with the Yankees if he’d had a big as year as last season, or if Evan Longoria hadn’t started so slowly.

This team misses Carl Crawford and Carlos Peña, make no mistake.

This team, when you look at the lineup, has no business winning 90 games, but it just might.

This season is on pace to come out like I thought at the start — the Red Sox with more than 100 wins, the Yankees rolling in at 95 or so and the Rays in the 80s, low or high, depending on this or that.

Somehow, the Rays are hanging in. One more slump would do them in. But New York’s starting pitching is looking frayed, at least the back end of the rotation. If it wasn’t for the fact that every time the pitchers get in trouble, Curtis Granderson hits two more homers, or they hit five as a team, as they did Sunday night in Baltimore, I’d say there was a real chance for the Rays to catch them.

Even so, it’s still a race. A slight one, but with this season, with these Rays, that’s saying something.

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Monday, August 29, 2011

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TORONTO — Given the domi­nating performance by LHP David Price and the Rays relievers, rookie LF Desmond Jennings said his afternoon in the outfield was, for the most part, pretty boring.

But he created plenty of excitement at the plate, homering in his first two at-bats, including the game’s first pitch, and rapping a career-best four hits overall.

“It was a good day,” Jennings said.

Having faced Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow in spring training, Jennings said he was “100 percent” sure the first pitch would be a fastball, and he jumped on it.

“I didn’t want to get behind because he’s good,” Jennings said. “Obviously, I didn’t try to hit a home run, but I tried to hit it somewhere hard.”

Jennings said he hit a couple of first-pitch homers in the minors and knew the impact the early lead can have.

“I just think it gets everybody up,” he said.

When he homered again in the second, giving him eight in 34 games since his call-up, he became just the seventh Rays rookie with a multihomer game. Also, he became the first Rays leadoff batter to hit two homers in a game since Rocco Baldelli on Sept. 14, 2006, in New York.

GO-GO GOMES: Though Price had 14 of the Rays’ team-record 18 strikeouts, rookie RHP Brandon Gomes had what manager Joe Maddon said was the biggest.

The Rays’ lead was only 6-0 in the eighth when the Jays had two on, one out and major-league home run leader Jose Bautista at the plate. Gomes fell behind 3-and-1 then came back and got Bautista looking at strike two and strike three.

“That one really kept the game in order,” Maddon said.

FARNSVILLE: RHP Kyle Farns­worth wasn’t needed but was available to pitch Sunday, the right elbow tenderness that sidelined him for a few days satisfactorily resolved.

“Good to go,” Farnsworth said.

Maddon said Farnsworth isn’t expected to be limited going forward, but the one concession he likely will make is not using him for more than one inning.

Farnsworth has a major-league most five saves of four or more outs and made six such appearances overall. Also, Maddon will try to not have him warm up unless he’s definitely going into the game.

“If we take care of him, I think he should be fine the rest of the season,” Maddon said. “He’s just way too valuable to not play along right now and make sure that he is well.”

UPTON UPDATE: The Rays have until 1:30 today to work out a trade with the unknown team that claimed CF B.J. Upton on waivers last week, though a deal is not considered likely.

While the Nationals have been considered a likely candidate as the claiming team, there was media speculation Sunday in Cleveland that it was the Indians, who have lost several outfielders to injury.

MISCELLANY: The Rays logged their 13th shutout, their most in a season. … Maddon planned to talk by phone postgame with executive vice president Andrew Friedman about which players will be added when rosters expand Thursday. … The 12-0 score matched their second-largest shutout, trailing only 13-0 over the Red Sox on April 30, 2009. … The Rays clinched their fourth straight season series with the Jays, leading 10-4, including 6-2 in Toronto. … RHP Chris Archer won his Triple-A debut Saturday, allowing one run over six innings and striking out six but walking five. … The finale to this four-game wraparound series is a night game for TV and attendance reasons. … The Rangers shuffled their rotation for the Rays series, skipping LHP Matt Harrison and replacing him Tuesday with long reliever RHP Scott Feldman.

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