Ben Zobrist in The New York Times; B.J. Upton is Too Lazy to Speak Loudly; Rays Use Numbers

• Alan Schwarz, author of The Numbers Game, has a nice human interest story on Ben Zobrist. In case you thought the "Results < Processes" shtick was just popular with the pitchers, Zobrist lays that idea to rest:   For Rays’ Ben Zobrist, Versatility Meets Opportunity - NYTimes.com

"It already has in the last few weeks," Zobrist said. "Not after I heard about the All-Star Game, but before that as I started to think more and more about how well I’d been hitting. And then I started hitting a couple of games of rough patch where I was trying to do the same things, results-wise. I started focusing on the results. I can’t do that. It doesn’t work. You’ve got to stick to the small little things that you were doing that helped put you in a position to be successful."

• This was posted as a fanshot already, but since nobody reads fanshots...a nice profile of B.J. Upton the person. Tampa Bay Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton belies first impressions - St. Petersburg Times
• And finally, why did Willy Aybar start against Zack Greinke? Because something discovered by the Rays baseball operations department made the decision for Joe Maddon. I'm going to guess it has something to do with either Greinke's velocity -- and Aybar's ability to hit fastballs in that range better than Gabe Gross -- or simply Gross' struggles with curveballs this year. Tampa Bay Rays beat Kansas City Royals 4-2 as Willy Aybar leads the way with 4-for-4 performance - St. Petersburg Times