Today’s lineup, no Manny

Starting Lineup:

75 Xavier Paul (L) RF

12 Brad Ausmus C

7 James Loney (L) 1B

27 Matt Kemp CF

33 Blake DeWitt (L) 3B

17 Jason Repko LF

60 Chin-lung Hu SS

14 Juan Castro* 2B

52 James McDonald (L) RHP

As you’ll notice, Manny Ramirez is not on the trip. Not a surprise here and nothing to read into it. It’s about a two hour bus ride from Phoenix to Tucson, so a lot of the regulars aren’t making this trip.

Matt Kemp made it back to town after going to Los Angeles to get new contact lenses on Tuesday and Joe Torre joked, “Matt thought I was going to put him right back in (Wednesday), but I told him I was saving him for the special trip (Thursday).”

Speaking of which, I better hit the road. It’s a long drive down there.