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Longoria, Rays Refuse To Crack Under Pressure

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 3, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - It was just another night at the bedlam.

There was Rays third baseman Evan Longoria reclining in a chair before Wednesday's finale with the Red Sox, chatting with ESPN's Erin Andrews.

There was Longoria, posing with eternal Rays season-ticket holder Dick Vitale on the field before the game, getting the full Dicky V over Tuesday's play, another entry for Longoria's rookie of the year diary - that amazing dive, stab, grab, and throw (from his knees, six feet behind third) that saved a run.

"Brooks Robinson, baby," Vitale crowed.

Then there was Wednesday. Two hits, three RBIs, including the go-ahead two-run double in the seventh to help lead the Big Rays Machine from 4-1 down and past the Red Sox.

It was so much more than Longoria, though, so much more. Make it another sweep, albeit barely, with a 7-6 Rays win. Make it a 3 1/2-game lead in the AL East.

"We're going to keep rolling and riding this wave," Longoria said.

Manny Ramirez, if you're listening, the Rays should have no problem handling your playoff ticket requests.

Too much too soon?

For sure.

A Long Way To Go

Still, it's abundantly clear that both the Red Sox and the Yankees, who will meet in that other series this weekend (Rays-Royals, ha-cha-cha), are going to get very old very fast waiting for Longoria and the rest of these Tropicana cats to cave.

Yes, the pressure will only mount. The heat will only gather. The stake will only become higher.

"There's such a long way to go," Rays reliever Trever Miller said before Wednesday's game.

Then his team went out and fell behind 4-1 behind Scott Kazmir's pitching funk and Red Sox hits and assorted Rays mistakes, including a slightly botched double play by Longoria that led to a Boston run.

So they simply went out in the bottom of the seventh and carved, from 54 pitches tossed by for Red Sox hurlers, a six-run eye-opener or eye sore, depending on whether you dropped your R's or not.

Included was Longoria's double to put the Rays ahead for good, and shortstop Jason Bartlett's second hit of the inning, a single that plated two runs and needed insurance. Boston came back, so throw in an over-the-shoulder, ninth-inning catch by center fielder B.J. Upton to save it.

Are you getting the feeling that any second now a director is going to yell "cut" and this whole movie is going to end up at the Multiplex?

Sweet Sweeps At Home

There is no such thing as a must-win series to begin July. The creature doesn't exist. That's for September.

That's when the pressure will be everywhere.

But these guys aren't cracking.

Make it 20 games over .500.

At home alone, they've swept the Red Sox twice, the Cubs once and the Angels once.

These guys aren't cracking.

Least of all the rookie at third.

He tore the interleague apart last week, but started quietly at the plate in this series. The first two games, Longoria didn't hit a ball out of the infield. He did Wednesday.

With two pieces of professional hitting, he drove home three.

Professional, by the way, was the operational order for this series. The dock fight in Boston seemed behind both teams, at least for now, though former Ray and Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo went Coco loco and was called out for interfering with Bartlett trying to turn a double play in the fourth, which cost Boston a run. By the way, payback boy, Jonathan Papelbon, never did pitch in this series. How boring - not.

"We're facing the best teams in baseball and getting their best shots and giving them back," Upton said.

This is ridiculously heady stuff right now. This week, not to be outdone by Sports Illustrated, the forthcoming issue of ESPN The Magazine features Longo, Aki, C.C. and Percy. America, get your Rays nickname decoder rings, they're going fast!

No faster than nights like Wednesday.

When will the nights run out?

Will they ever run out?

Dicky V, give us a hand.

"They're incredible, baby."

Like he said.

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