I'm convinced Jayson Stark wrote this same column last spring, but I don't have the initiative to find it. That means I'm going to treat this as new and original, and even quote it:
"Being here, I think that's a blessing," [Morgan Ensberg] said, "because it reminded me what baseball is supposed to be like. I don't think any of this happened by chance. I think I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be."
Yes, it's a sappy piece about veterans. What did you expect?
Meanwhile, Carlos Pena is still the most optimistic man on Earth.
"It's my big day, right?" Pena said. "I'm really happy about the fact I'm going to be able to go out there and join the team and play in the dugout with the guys and just participate."
And...
."I'm so fortunate to be part of this club," said Pena, selected by Texas with the 10th pick in the 1998 June draft. "I thank God every day to play with these guys. I'm in the presence of some incredible talent. ... These guys don't know how good they are."
Which lead Ira Kaufman to write about his leadership...
"I don't think Carlos gets nearly as much recognition as he should have for what he did when Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria got hurt," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. "He carried us for a long stretch."
As for tomorrow:
Left-hander Carlos Hernandez will start for the Rays and will be followed by left-handers Randy Choate, Jason Cromer, and James Houser and right-hander Julio DePaula. Right-hander Jimmy Barthmaier will start for the Pirates.
If you've never heard of Barthmaier, you aren't alone. Here's his FanGraphs page.