And that, my friends, is B.J. Upton - MLB

B.J. Upton isn’t happy with being dropped in the Rays’ batting order:

B.J. Upton’s frustration with his poor season has been made worse by the sting of being dropped to the No. 9 spot in the Rays lineup. “It’s almost like a kick in the face,” Upton said.
Upton said he was “definitely” hurt by the further demotion
after being taken out of the leadoff slot last week, dropped initially
to seventh, then eighth and now ninth . . .

. . . “To go from being a leadoff guy and last year hitting (No.) 2, 3, maybe
4 … it’s just like I’m back where I started (as a 19-year-old rookie).
I was in the 9-hole, the 8-hole and kind of worked my way up,” Upton
said. “I know I’m not a 9-hitter. I know I’m not a bottom-of-the-order
type of guy.”

Hey B.J.: your .239/.314/.363 season suggest otherwise.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”