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Longoria Just A Little Out Of Comfort Zone

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2008

Updated: 10/25/2008 12:13 am

PHILADELPHIA - It began, as it almost always has his rookie season, with a blinding burst of talent, two Evan Longoria home runs in his very first postseason at-bats.

The Kid has that knack.

But there's a nick or two.

Longoria is part of the hitting funk that has overwhelmed the Rays (oh, and the Phillies) to start this World Series. He's hitless in eight at-bats, though he did drive home a run with a grounder as the Rays evened the Series in Game 2.

"I don't know, it really hasn't seemed that hard at all," Longoria said. "There are always struggles. Overall, I think I've had a pretty productive postseason."

Here's his case: 12 RBIs, second to only B.J. Upton. Longoria's six home runs are already a postseason rookie record. He got at least one hit in all but one game of the ALCS against Boston, and at one point he homered in four straight games.

But he's batting only .220 in the postseason, and he has struck out 15 times.

Throw in four errors.

Can we just remember that he's barely 23?

Can we?

Pressing A Bit

"I've felt as confident as I have all year," Longoria said.

Rays manager Joe Maddon sees it slightly different.

"I just have to have one of my fireside chats with him," Maddon said after the Rays evened the Series with a 4-2 Game 2 win. Longoria drove in a run with a grounder. "My concern about Longo, he's a young man and he's been pretty much in the center of the whole thing. I could appreciate that from a distance, having never lived that. We have to talk and reassure him that, again, he's just 1/25th of the whole thing going on right now."

The manager sees some pressing, some diminishing pitch selection.

The manager wants Longo to relax.

You'd think he was just that as he walked around in a ski cap before taking batting practice at Citizens Bank Park late Friday afternoon. He said his hellos to his ancient pal, Don Zimmer, and played catch with Jonny Gomes and Rocco Baldelli.

"If he kept up the pace he was at before, the guy would have hit about 30 home runs in the playoffs," Baldelli said. "When you're as good as he is, people expect things that aren't possible."

Let's remember that when the Rays needed to get started in Game 7 against the Red Sox, it was Longo, on a beautiful piece of hitting, who went the other way with a Jon Lester pitch to plate a run.

"It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you win," Longoria said. "It might be a play in the field, or one at-bat in the fifth inning, anything to help the team win."

As for this slump ...

"It could be a plethora of different things, I mean, slumps, good pitching, any numbers of things."

Any guy who can take the collar and still say "plethora" is OK with us.

He Recovers Quickly

The Rays aren't in this Series without Longoria. He's going to anchor this franchise for years. Is there really any doubt? He'll pretty much be in the center of the whole thing.

But, for now, just for now, Maddon wants to ease the strain.

"I called him the other day and tried to change the subject. I invited him to my wedding reception. I thought that might work, because he lives in Long Beach."

"You're going to go 0-for-4, 0-for-8, 0-for-10. It happens to everybody," Baldelli said.

The 2-3-4-5 hitters in the Rays' lineup - Upton, Carlos Pena, Longo and Carl Crawford, are a combined 3-for-31 (.097) in the Series.

Back to Rocco ...

"I'm not worried about Longoria in any way. I think everybody in this clubhouse would laugh at the notion that he wouldn't be able to recover from 0-for-8. That's kind of a joke. He's so good, he's so not a 23-year-old kid."

And don't bother breaking Longo down. He's switched you off.

"I just don't watch it. I don't watch ESPN," Longoria said. "I'd rather just stay away from all of it and just keep my mind blank ... play the next day not worrying about what an analyst says about my swing last night."

Back to Maddon ...

"Right now, I just think his confidence is down a bit and we've just got to get him back into that comfort zone as quickly as possible."

Key word: quickly.

"I've seen him do it," Maddon said. "He gets back fast."

Tonight would be a good time.

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