Friday: Tampa Bay-Bucs Tonight; Lineup & Pitchers; Yesterday's Recap & Notes

Game: Tampa Bay rolls into Bradenton for a 6:05 game, aired on on AT&T SportsNet and 93.7 The Fan. It's the only night game in Florida; the next contest under the lights is on the 25th at Minute Maid Park in a tune up against the 'Stros. And it should be an interesting TV broadcast; the booth promises a nightful of Steve Blass stories.

Lineup: Adam Frazier 2B, Starling Marte CF, Corey Dickerson LF, Josh Bell 1B, Fran Cervelli C, Lonnie Chisenhall RF, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Melky Cabrera DH, Erik Gonzalez SS (Joe Musgrove P). Austin Meadows will start in RF and bat leadoff for the Rays.

Big Joe take the bump (image Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: RHP Joe Musgrove tosses against RHP Wilmer Font, with Felipe Vazquez, Keone Kela, Kyle Crick, Richard Rodriguez and Tyler Lyons penciled in behind Big Joe.

Yesterday's Game: Fraze got it trending with a leadoff homer to open the Bucco first; Corey D, Starling Marte, Colin Moran and Kevin Newman also went long over the afternoon as the Bucs rolled over Philly 11-2. Willy was sharp, striking out four in five innings while giving up one unearned run (J-Bell booted one ball and Redbeard misplayed a pair in the same frame) on three singles with no walks. Frankie, Nick Burdi, Clay Holmes and Brandon Maurer all worked an inning, with Maurer touched up for a solo ninth-inning dinger. Newman had three hits (HR & 2B), Starling a pair (HR & 2B), and Melky had two raps. Heck, the Pirates even stole three bases in four tries (Fran, Newman and Starling swiped; Melky wiped). It was a good day at the ranch.

Notes:

• The Pirates snapped a six-game Grapefruit League losing streak yesterday. 
• Full Press Coverage's 30-in-30 post looks at the Pirates by position and predicts a pretty dismal 74-win campaign. They recap with "The Pirates are a small market team swimming in a large market pond. The pitching staff will make them competitive within the division. However, the lack of star power will keep them looking up at the rest of the NL Central."
• Yesterday, we had a link to some general changes the MLB and MLBPA agreed on for the next two years. Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has the specifics. Most of the changes shouldn't create big issues, but we would have liked to see a little more September leeway. It seems like the deal is shutting out a chance for lesser-touted youngsters to get a big league look, although the 40-man expansion did create a zoo.