Longoria earns star treatment in NYC

The waiting list for a table at Mario Batali's Eataly was more than 90 minutes, so 3B Evan Longoria was expecting a long wait when he placed his name on the list during a recent trip to New York City.

Longoria knows New Yorkers tend to look favorably at athletes, even those who don't play for the local teams. But even Longoria was surprised when no more than five minutes later he found himself being seated.

"It was pretty crazy how one event can shape something in a city," Longoria said. "I think they were obviously so happy Boston wasn't in the playoffs. It was pretty crazy."

That event, of course, was his walk-off home run against the Yankees on the final night of the regular season that clinched the American League wild card. The bat Longoria used has a place of honor in the Baseball Hall of Fame, while Longoria found himself an honored guest in the Big Apple.

"I swear, I've never seen more doors open, carpets rolled out for a guy," Longoria said. "I'm not even kidding you."

Longoria's homer is etched into Rays lore, as is the photo of him rounding first base with his hands raised above his head. The moment was made into a figurine that will be part of a Rays promotion April 21.

But Longoria said that moment, that final game, overshadows the best part of last season.

"I think the journey is what we kind of forget about, how we went from so far down at the beginning of September to giving ourselves a chance on that last day," he said. "That's what's cooler. I was just a small piece in getting us in (the playoffs), but to get to where we were, it was a total team effort. There were guys doing something special on a daily basis to get us there."

At-bats for Scott

Manager Joe Maddon's plan is to get his regulars 60 to 70 at-bats this spring, with the bulk coming toward the end of the Grapefruit League season. That plan will be altered for DH Luke Scott, who had surgery July 29 to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and is still working his shoulder into playing shape.

"I know how hard he works and how much he cares. He's the kind of guy we have to watch. He's going to say he's OK when he needs more time," Maddon said. "I need to know him better. I'll know probably within two weeks, I'd say, where we're going to end up with at-bats for him."

Scott took batting practice Sunday during the team's first full squad workout, but found his swing suffering from not warming up like he had last week during voluntary workouts at the Rays complex.

Because of morning physicals and work normally associated with a full squad workout, Scott could not warm up with 40 swings off a batting tee and 15 more during soft toss.

"By that time everything around my shoulder is warmed up," Scott said. "(Sunday) I didn't have anything. I just went cold turkey. I had to take my time. Go real slow. I didn't have a controlled bat head as efficiently as if I had warmed up, which is normal."

Scott said his routine will be altered beginning this morning to allow himself time to warm-up.

Grab a cold one

The Red Sox will be the 19th team in the major leagues, according to the Boston Globe, to ban beer from their clubhouse. While first-year manager Bobby Valentine said that was his policy when he managed the Mets, it is being looked upon as a reaction to reports that pitchers Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester and John Lackey drank beer and ate fried chicken in the clubhouse last season on days when they didn't pitch.

When asked Sunday if he would ban beer, Maddon said, "We're not the Boston Red Sox."

He added, "At the end of the day I'd much prefer players making good decisions and if you're of legal age and the game is over and you sweated and lost a bunch of pounds and you want to sit down and have a beer, I see nothing wrong with that."

Alcohol still will be banned from the team charters when the Rays return from road trips.

Roger Mooney