AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

Pat Burrell, who argued with teammate Carl Crawford on Wednesday, is hitting .228 this year.

By Buster Olney, ESPN The Magazine

Only Carl Crawford and Pat Burrell know what their argument Wednesday evening was about, and Rays manager Joe Maddon apparently isn't going to inform the world. "Everything's good," said Maddon, who reportedly spoke with both players.

But, as often happens with a team that plays below expectations, rancor has been burbling within the Tampa Bay clubhouse for a while, sources indicate. Some players are unhappy with the effort level of peers, some players are frustrated about the focus of some of their peers, and some players want to see greater dedication in 2010.

One rival talent evaluator is not surprised to hear about the Rays' internal challenges.

"It's a young team that had a lot of guys who had their first taste of real success last year," said the evaluator. "That's not an easy thing. There's greater pressure on the players, there are greater expectations, and they don't have a core of guys who have experience dealing with that. That's been more of a problem than I thought it would be."

An AL general manager believes that what the Rays are going through is just part of the growing process for a young team.

"This season is going to give them a greater definition about what they need to do, about who they can rely on and who they need to move," the GM said. "That's a pretty proactive front office, and you saw how they added Cliff Floyd and [Troy] Percival before the 2008 season. I wouldn't be surprised if they were to bring in some guys who could help out with the leadership again."

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: Sept. 15 | Sept. 14 | Sept. 13 | Sept. 10 | Sept. 9

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Who went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on "Baseball Tonight" and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

Home Run Tracker
NAME	HR	OPP	SITUATION
Adrian Gonzalez, SD	38	Vasquez	Bot 9: 0-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
Michael Cuddyer, MIN	26	Laffey	Bot 5: 1-0, 0 Outs. None on.
Carlos Lee, HOU	26	Lehr	Top 3: 3-1, 1 Out. None on.
Matt Kemp, LA	24	Hart	Bot 6: 0-2, 1 Out. 1 on.
Torii Hunter, LAA	22	Byrd	Top 6: 0-1, 0 Outs. None on.
Jonny Gomes, CIN	20	Bazardo	Bot 2: 0-1, 0 Outs. None on.
Geoff Blum, HOU	10	Lehr	Top 5: 2-2, 1 Out. None on.
Ronnie Belliard, LA	8	Dumatrait	Bot 8: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
Jose Bautista, TOR	7	Gaudin	Top 3: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.

The complete list of Wednesday's homers

ON DECK: THURSDAY'S BEST MATCHUPS

Royals at Tigers, 1:05 p.m. ET

The Tigers are trying to keep their cushion in the AL Central. Meanwhile, the Royals' Zack Greinke tries to bolster his Cy Young Award candidacy. Greinke owns a modest 13-8 record, but he leads the AL in ERA (2.19) and WHIP (1.07).

Angels at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m. ET

Ervin Santana has pitched well in his past four starts, he just doesn't have much to show for it. Santana has permitted two or fewer runs in three of those four outings -- he gave up four in the other one -- yet is 0-2 with a pair of no-decisions. Josh Beckett has controlled his homer total; he has not given up a homer in either of his past two games after serving up 14 over his previous five.

Marlins at Reds, 7:10 p.m. ET

The Marlins are still clinging onto faint hopes of grabbing the NL wild card. Anibal Sanchez has had much the same fortune in the past month as Ervin Santana; he hasn't given up more than three earned runs in any of his four starts since returning from the DL, yet he is 1-2 with a pair of no-decisions.

For the rest of Thursday's schedule, click here.