Evan Longoria lands on 15-day DL

Earlier today, we noted that Rays third baseman Evan Longoria did not expect to miss more than a week due to his strained oblique.

He was wrong.

The Rays have placed Longoria on the 15-day disabled list and infielder Felipe Lopez will join the Rays from Triple-A Durham, per Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.

"It's just unfortunate," [manager Joe] Maddon said. "We're having a hard time scoring runs out of the chute. He's probably our best run producer and now we don't have him. We're just going to have to make some adjustments and keep playing.''

In today's game against the Orioles, Ben Zobrist is hitting in Longoria's No. 3 spot and Sean Rodriguez is playing third base, as expected.

Evan Longoria to miss a week (or more?)

If you were fortunate enough to land the consensus top third baseman in fantasy baseball, that was the good news.

The bad news is he's expected to miss a week and there's a chance he'll land on the disabled list (DL).

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria left Saturday night's game with a sore left oblique and he will be evaluated further on Sunday.

That said, Longoria doesn't expect to miss more than a week.

"It doesn't feel like something that's going to keep me off the field for a long time," Longoria said, per Tony Fabrizio of The Tampa Tribune. "I've never had an oblique (injury), so I don't know what a real serious one is supposed to (feel like)."

Manager Joe Maddon has not ruled out Longoria landing on the disabled list by saying "we have to get him evaluated and then make a determination."

With Longoria out, Sean Rodriguez will start at third base.

Carlos Pena to replace Dustin Pedroia on All-Star team

Boston Red Sox second baseman is going to miss this year's All-Star game. A.L. manager Joe Madden named Carlos Pena as his replacement, per Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times.

"I have to believe who ever leads the league in home runs normally belongs in an All-Star game," Maddon said. "And the fact he hadn't been on the team yet bothered me just a little bit, so for whatever reason, it all worked out well."

Pena leads the A.L. in home runs (24) and was one of the five finalists for the final A.L. All-Star spot. Despite the Rays' "Vote 'Los" campaign, Detroit's Brandon Inge won that honor.

Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler finished second to Inge in voting for the final spot. Pena finished fourth.

In addition to leading the A.L. in home runs, Pena is tenth in RBI (58) and is hitting .230.

Pena is one of the eight Home Run Derby contestants. He'll be competing against Nelson Cruz (Texas), Brandon Inge (Detroit), Joe Mauer (Minnesota), Albert Pujols (St. Louis), Adrian Gonzalez (San Diego), Prince Fielder (Milwaukee) and Ryan Howard (Philadelphia).

Other Rays' All-Stars include Evan Longoria, who will start at third base, and reserves Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist and Carl Crawford. See the full All-Star roster here.

Rays gave Maddon three-year extension

The Tampa Bay Rays have given a three-year extension to Joe Maddon, who won the A.L. Manager of the Year award in 2008.

The Rays' skipper is now under contract until 2012.

"This is where I belong,'' Maddon said. "This is where I want to be. I really have to use the word love when I talk about this organization. ... For me, it's a no-brainer. I really want to stay here and I'm really grateful that I get the opportunity.' "

In the Rays' first-ever winning season (97-65), the Rays made it to the World Series. This year, the Rays are 23-23 and four games out of first.

Kazmir, Percival to DL; Price to be called up

The Tampa Bay Rays have placed both starter Scott Kazmir and closer Troy Percival on the 15-day disabled list, according to Marc Lancaster of The Tampa Tribune.

Percival has shoulder tendinitis and Kazmir has a quadriceps strain.

Manager Joe Maddon wonders if Percival, who's 39 and gone home to clear his mind, will be back.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he chooses not to come back," Maddon said. "There's only so much you can do when you get to that age, and he's tried everything possible to put himself back together to be, not just functional, but a very big contributor to us. He's just not feeling that he can be that right now."

Kazmir is leading (in a bad way) the majors in pitches per inning (19.2) and he has an ERA of 11.35 in his previous five starts.

Pitching phenom David Price will likely start on Monday in Kazmir's place.

Andy Sonnanstine, designated hitter?

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon meant for Evan Longoria to DH while Ben Zobrist plays third base.

However, on the official sheet provided to the umpire before the game, Maddon listed both Zobrist and Longoria at third base.

That meant that Longoria wouldn't be allowed to DH and Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine would hit instead. Not only would Sonnanstine hit, but he had to bat third (where Longoria was intended to hit).

Although Sonnanstine recorded his first career extra-base hit during his second at-bat, I'm sure Maddon will be more careful next time.