OF B.J. Upton was not happy with manager Joe Maddon's decision to drop him from the leadoff spot to seventh in the Rays lineup.

"I'm a little upset but I guess I brought that on myself," Upton said.

Upton said he would do what he could to help the team and obviously whatever Maddon wanted to do was the way to go. "Obviously I haven't been producing up there so maybe it's time for a change,'' he said. "Just deal with it and move on. Do what I can to get back up there. ... It's his team, he can do what he wants to do. Like I said, I'll help this team anyway I can. And if he feels the best way for me to do that is in the seventh spot or wherever it may be, that's what I'll do. 

Upton is hitting .242 in the leadoff spot, but his on-base percentage has dipped to .317, which is Maddon's primary area of concern. He wants to "take the pressure off him to jump-start the offense" and in turn wants Upton to show more discipline at the plate and "reorganize his strike zone.''

Upton also discounted the theory that he was putting additional pressure on himself from the leadoff spot. No, not at all,'' he said. "I take the same approach regardless of what spot I'm in.''

Jason Bartlett, meanwhile, said he was up for the challenge of hitting leadoff. "Whatever he wants; I’m ready to go either way,'' Bartlett said. "I’ve been in that nine-hole pretty much all year, and Joe always said its like another leadoff spot after that first AB. That lineup just keeps turning over so it really doesn’t matter. I’ll get one more AB, and hopefully it’ll turn out for the best.''