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Injuries to Crawford, Longoria already hurting Rays

Aug 13, 2008 - 10:08 AM Tampa Bay (71-47) at Oakland (55-63) 10:05 p.m. EDT

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The injuries to Carl Crawford and rookie Evan Longoria are already being felt by the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays try to bounce back from a narrow defeat when they meet the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.

Tampa Bay suffered a 2-1 loss on Tuesday in the series opener against the Athletics - its first game without both Crawford and Longoria. Each landed on the disabled list in the last three days.

Crawford will have surgery on Thursday to repair the subluxation of his right middle finger tendon. The two-time All-Star is expected to miss six to eight weeks, making a return in the final week of the regular season a possibility barring any setbacks.

Longoria, an All-Star and frontrunner for the AL Rookie of the Year Award, went on the shelf Monday after suffering a right wrist fracture over the weekend.

Rays manager Joe Maddon wants his team to continue playing the way they have all season despite the injuries.

"I just want us to play hard," he said. "A continuous effort is what I'm looking for. I'm sure everybody feels it's their responsibility to pick things up. I just want them to keep playing the same game that we've been playing to this point."

Tampa Bay, which owns a three-game lead over the Boston Red Sox (69-51) atop the AL East Division, tries to increase its advantage in the standings against Oakland ace Justin Duchscherer (10-7, 2.51 ERA), who ranks second in the AL in ERA but has not earned a win since July 8 - a span of five starts.

Andy Sonnanstine (11-6, 4.40) counters for the Rays after allowing one run and five hits in 7 1/3 innings, but did not factor in the decision during Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners.