Longoria Returns to Rays Lineup

Added on May 03, 2011 by Scott in

MLB

The Tampa Bay Rays managed to survive the month of April without their best offensive player in the lineup. Now they can move forward with him back. Third baseman Evan Longoria has been removed form the disabled list and will rejoin his teammates tonight when Tampa begins a three-game series with Toronto.

Longoria has been out of commission since straining his left oblique muscle on April 2nd. In part due to his absence, the Rays got off to a dreadful 1-8 start. However, they turned things around and finished the month with a winning record and currently sit at 15-13, second in the AL East.

Needless to say, Longoria is eager to return to the diamond and is pleased where his team is positioned in the standings.

“It’s been overall a pretty positive vibe, pretty positive feeling to watch these guys really just go out there and make it happen, night in and night out,” Longoria said. “We’ve talked about it from the beginning that we’re going to find different ways to win and different guys to step up and really fill in roles. And it’s been awesome to watch.”

Longoria, a three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, is still searching for his first hit of 2011. He went 0-5 in the only two games he started, but will look to get off the schnide against a team he owned a season ago. In 2010, he hit .385 with nine RBI in 18 games versus the Blue Jays.

Having Longoria’s pop in the lineup should help improve the Rays offensive statistics. Through the first 28 games, they rank 14th in runs scored and 20th in batting average. In three major league campaigns, Evan has belted 82 home runs and driven in 302 runs.

Manager Joe Maddon knows how important it is to get his do-everything star back from an extended layoff.

“The thing that I like is that we’ve been able to survive to this point without him here,” Maddon said. “So moving forward, you put him back where he’s supposed to be and all these other guys have gotten sort of toasty around him. I’d like to believe it’s going to obviously benefit us even more. We’re absolutely looking forward to having him back.”

Longoria is expected to take his normal spot third in the order.

Source: MLB.com