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Local Support Makes Longoria An All-Star

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Longoria is hitting .281, with 16 home runs and 53 RBIs.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 10, 2008

CLEVELAND – Evan Longoria had led the balloting for the final spot on the American League All-Star roster in every update released by Major League Baseball this week, but as the minutes ticked past today's 5 p.m. voting cutoff, everyone started to get a bit nervous.

After about 15 anxious minutes, though, Longoria and the Rays got the news they had been hoping for. MLB senior vice president Phyllis Merhige phoned Rays spokesman Rick Vaughn and Vaughn handed his cell phone to Longoria, who was on the field stretching prior to batting practice.

"She just said, 'Congratulations, you're an American League All-Star,' and those were the words that I was waiting to hear," said Longoria, whose teammates burst into applause upon hearing the news.

He wasn't content just to wait, though, taking matters into his own hands at the last minute. He admitted to voting for himself about 20 times earlier Thursday.

"I can't lie," he said. "Today I was pretty pumped up to see how it was going to finish out."

Longoria beat out four established players: Jermaine Dye of the Chicago White Sox, Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees and Jose Guillen of the Kansas City Royals. He received about nine million of the 47.8 million total votes cast for both leagues, the most by any player since the final ballot was instituted in 2002.

Giambi, who like Longoria is a former Long Beach State star, told reporters in Pittsburgh that he was hoping Longoria would win the vote if he didn't.

"He's a great player, he's playing hard," said Giambi. "He's definitely deserving."

During batting practice, Red Sox manager Terry Francona - who will manage the AL team Tuesday - called Vaughn and asked him to pass on his congratulations to Longoria.

Longoria had been planning to go to Las Vegas with some buddies during the All-Star break, but instead his friends will have to find their way to New York to join him.

"What can I say? Now it's going to be the dream come true that I was hoping for. I'm totally excited," said Longoria.

"I just want to say thanks to the fans, thanks to everybody who voted, that's got to be first and foremost. I couldn't have done it without everybody who voted."

Longoria is hitting .281 with 16 homers and 53 RBIs, and he has become an impact player for the Rays in a very short time since being called up from Durham in April.

"I think he's earned it," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "He made a nice, strong push over the last month and he's been playing at a very consistent level and a very clutch level – not just offensively, but defensively also he's been very clutch. He's made some huge plays for us. It's quite a testament to him and the university that he comes from as well as our scouting department and developmental department to get him here this quickly and make such a tremendous impact."

Just as important to the Rays as having three All-Star representatives for the first time was what Longoria's win seemed to say about the team's new image.

"Going head-to-head with a player from the Chicago market and a player from the New York market, I think it's quite an accomplishment for him to have won that," said Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman. "A lot of it has to do with the success of the team and the success he's had, so I think it's kind of a perfect storm of events that has allowed him to win that vote.

"Even last year, we weren't in a position to win one of those votes and the success we've had, obviously we've gotten a lot of national recognition and that certainly aided him as well."

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