Andy Sonnanstine, Mizuno to team up at The Sports Authority

May 15, 1:13 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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Contest winners can ask Sonny how it feels to be an AL Champ AP/Kathy Willens

It will be a special day for about thirty youngsters on Saturday thanks to Mizuno and Andy Sonnanstine. Mizuno ran an online and in-store promotion, selecting thirty winners to meet and greet Sonnanstine. The Rays’ starting pitcher will answer questions and sign autographs for the already-announced winners at the Sports Authority located at 4900 W. Kennedy Blvd in Tampa.

The event will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude by 11 a.m. Andy will be available for twenty minutes of questions and answers from contest winners only. After the twenty minutes of Q&A, the winners will get their picture taken with Sonny and he will sign an autograph for them.

The general public is welcome to observe while shopping at the store, but the Sports Authority and Mizuno would like to emphasize that the event will take place in a roped-off area of the store and Sonnanstine will be taking questions and signing for WINNERS ONLY. No party-crashers please.

Sonnanstine was a vital part of the 2008 AL Champions. He went 13-9 with a 4.38 ERA in the regular season and posted a 2-1 record with a 4.24 ERA in the ’08 playoffs. In 2009, Andy is 1-4 with a 7.27 ERA and his next start will be Sunday at the Trop against the Cleveland Indians.

Once again, the event is for the winners of the contest ONLY. If you haven’t been contacted by Mizuno, you are not a winner. Sonnanstine is going out of his way to make this happen for the winners – he still has a game on Saturday night so it is very important he gets out of there on time. He will only have time to sign for the contest winners. Please be respectful of these circumstances.

After losing 11-6 to Cleveland last night, the Rays are now 16-20 in fourth place in the AL East. The division-leading Toronto Blue Jays are now 6.5 games ahead of the Rays. It’s now mid-May and the Rays need to make a run in the very near-future if they want to avoid falling out of the race completely. Tonight it will be Scott Kazmir for the Rays against Anthony Reyes of the Indians at the Trop.

Can the Rays get back into the race or are they done for in ’09? Let me know in a comment.

Jason Bartlett hits: 45

Jason Bartlett groundball singles between short and third: 9

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