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ST. PETERSBURG -- Kyle Farnsworth has not pitched since Sept. 10 against the Red Sox -- when he came away with a sore right elbow -- but the Rays closer was deemed ready to return on Friday."Kyle is good to go," said Rays manager Joe Maddon before Friday night's opener against Toronto. "He was actually good last night. We were going to use him last night if we needed him. So yeah, it's nice to ha fox nfl ve the bullpen back to full strength."Farnsworth, who has a team-leading 23 saves, said everything felt well after playing catch prior to Thursday's 15-8 win over the Yankees."No soreness or anything like that the past couple of days, so I'm looking forward to being out there today," Farnsworth said. "... Everything felt good, sliders, cutters. Probably not going to throw my splitty anymore, that' fox nfl s probably the reason my elbow got sore. So that's not going to be in the repertoire anymore. I never threw it that much anyhow. But everything feels good. I'm happy about that."The Rays have gone 6-6 since Farnsworth's last appearance. Joel Peralta did a nice job filling in as the closer in Boston, when he recorded saves on back-to-back nights.Farnsworth was particularly missed in the first game fox nfl of Wednesday's doubleheader against New York. The Rays could have gone to Peralta in the eighth inning and Farnsworth in the ninth. Instead, they never reached Peralta -- who would have pitched the ninth -- and lost, 4-2."We had to try and do things a little bit differently in the other games," Maddon said. "It made it a lot more difficult. If Kyle had been available for that doubleheader, we coul fox nfl d have done things differently. But he just wasn't, so what are you going to do?" Canzler relishes first Major League hit ST. PETERSBURG -- Russ Canzler, who was the International League MVP while playing for Triple-A Durham, got his first Major League hit in the fifth inning of Thursday night's game at Yankee Stadium before later collecting his first RBI with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.Aft fox nfl er Canzler's hit, the game was stopped and the ball was sent to the Rays' dugout. As a gag, the players in the dugout flipped a ball into the stands, pretending the ball was the one Canzler had hit for his first safety.Canzler laughed about his teammates' antics."Actually, I don't know where the actual ball is," Canzler said. "Johnny [Damon] gave me a fake one that he wrote on and signed for me. [ fox nfl Equipment manager Chris Westmoreland] Westy has the actual one. I actually didn't realize that had happened until I watched the replay of the at-bat. "That was funny. Cuz [George Hendrick, the Rays first-base coach] gave me a heads up that they were probably going to mess with me. If it wasn't for him I probably would have been pretty surprised."After the hit, Canzler had a 1.000 batting average, fox nfl which was displayed on the scoreboard the next time he hit. Canzler reported that Damon took a picture of the Yankee Stadium scoreboard showing the 1.000 average."That was pretty cool," Canzler said. "I'll probably have to get that one framed."On Friday afternoon, Canzler still had a glow about the whole experience."That was awesome," Canzler said. "... That's a special place to get your first hit fox nfl , in that atmosphere, in that city. That was pretty cool. Actually, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. ... I think I was more nervous about not seeing pitching in a couple of days."So, just trying to slow everything down when you get in the box, slow your breathing down a little bit. I felt good. I think watching these guys the last few games, watching Johnny Damon, watching Longo, watching fox nfl some of the hitters on our team, watching their approach at the plate has helped me stay prepared and focused for when I do get a chance."Manager Joe Maddon called it a "good moment" and noted that seeing such a moment never gets old. fox nfl
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