Evan Longoria comments on Tampa Bay Rays’ offseason campaign as club falls out of ALDS
The Tampa Bay Rays were desperately in need of a win to stay afloat in the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, October 4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
The club was 1-2 behind in the series and they needed to beat the Rangers to force a Game 5 in the competition. Their campaign for glory however came to an abrupt end when the Rangers managed a 4-3 win in Game 4.
Rays are now looking to go in to the off-season period and cool off before the start of the 2012 regular season. There is however one thing different than last year, as the Rays crashed out of the post-season with a series defeat from the Rangers. The club
is prone to less change this year and by that one can easily look at the players that went out of the team.
Carl Crawford moved to the Boston Red Sox, while Matt Garza and Carlos Pena moved to the Chicago Cubs. Rafael Soriano moved to the New York Yankees and decommissioned the bull-pen. However with the incoming surge of youngsters, the club is looking strong.
Third baseman Evan Longoria was quick to talk about the current situation.
"There are obviously a couple of question marks as there is with every team at the end of the year," Longoria said, "but definitely not as much as we were looking at last year. And the benefit of it is we know that we can win with any nine guys at any time
regardless of the budget, regardless of our payroll, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey."
The player highlighted the fact that the current culture at the club feels like being part of a college atmosphere.
Longoria is ranked eighth in the American League with 31 home-runs. His performance in the last two games against the Rangers was weak but he will be looking to come back strong, next season. The Rays will work hard in the off-season to get ready for the
new season.
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