Monday, Oct. 13, 2008

Longoria snaps slump just in time

Evan Longoria is nothing if not confident.

So Tampa Bay's rookie third baseman knew the sudden slump he had slipped into during the postseason wasn't going to last and that he was one at-bat away from rediscovering the stroke that has meant so much to the Rays' improbable run to the American League Championship Series.

Luckily for the team, Longoria locked back into a groove during the biggest game in franchise history - Game 2 of the ALCS, which the Rays won 9-8 in 11 innings over the Boston Red Sox to tie the seven-game series at 1.

Game 3 is slated for 4:37 p.m. today at Fenway Park.

Longoria's first at-bat Saturday proved most crucial, when he crushed a game-tying two-run home run during the bottom of the first inning. It was Longoria's first RBI since Game 1 of the division series, when he became the first rookie to homer in his first two postseason at-bats.

"It sparked us a little bit, got us a little fired up," said centerfielder B.J. Upton, who won Game 2 when Fernando Perez scored on his 11th-inning sacrifice fly. "We never really feel pressure. . . . But coming out of the first down 2-0 - we still know there's a lot of game to play, but for him to come back and tie us back up, it pretty much kept us in the game."

Longoria continued his surge by stroking a pair of doubles, and wound up going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored - a welcome sight for a guy mired in an 0-for-13 slump, and who had grounded into a rally-killing double play during the eighth inning of Tampa Bay's loss in Game 1.

"It's all about the moment in the postseason - you've got to perform when it matters. . . . We're playing for our playoff life here, and it was big for me to do what I did (Saturday)," he said. "It just goes back to being able to produce when it counts - when the pressure is on and the spotlight is on you. Fortunately, I was able to be presented with those moments again, with guys on base. And I was able to come through (Saturday)."

The 22-year-old sparkled in his rookie season, totaling 27 home runs and 85 RBIs and earning a spot on the American League All-Star team. But he was hit by a pitch from Seattle's J.J. Putz on Aug. 7, fracturing his right wrist and costing him 30 games.

Yet Rays manager Joe Maddon said Longoria's recent funk wasn't physical.

"He just expanded his own strike zone a bit," Maddon said prior to Game 2. "It happens. It happens to everybody."

Maddon spoke with Longoria on Saturday, telling him to be more selective and wait for his pitches.

Longoria heeded Maddon's words, all the while knowing the answer lay within.

"I always believe in myself. I always have the thought process that I'm always going to come out of slumps," Longoria said. "I think that's the way you've got to be - you've got to believe in yourself."

Longoria and Upton have combined to hit seven home runs this postseason, the most by a pair of teammates under the age of 25. And it wasn't long ago that Upton, slowed this year by a torn labrum, was dealing with his own offensive struggles.