The Rays are poised to activate SS Julio Lugo and 3B Aubrey Huff after Thursday's game. Lugo played in extended spring training in St. Petersburg again on Thursday and did fine. Huff was playing for Class A Visalia in California on Thursday afternoon and if all went well there both will be reinstated. The Rays have not said what moves they will make to clear space on the roster, but a good guess would be that they keep Tomas Perez as a utility infielder over Nick Green and that they keep Greg Norton as an extra bat over Russell Branyan since Norton, a switch-hitter, is more versatile.

The travel to Oakland is brutal; the Rays will leave after Thursday's game, taking off 11:30 or midnight, and probably won't get to their San Francisco hotel until around 2:30 or 3 California time, which will be 5:30 or 6 a.m. on their body clocks.

Manager Joe Maddon stacked his lineup with righthanders against Yankees ace Randy Johnson, using Nick Green at second and Greg Norton at first, with Sean Burroughs and Travis Lee getting the night off. He might have been able to get Josh Paul into the lineup too by using Toby Hall as a DH, but with Jonny Gomes unable to play the outfield due to a sore shoulder the options were limited.

And still no word on Delmon Young's suspension....