ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays needed some magic Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.
They brought in just the guy to make it happen.
Franchise icon Evan Longoria threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 4 of the World Series. The greatest player in Rays history toed the rubber and fired a strike to infielder Ben Williamson to the tune of his walk-up song, Tantric’s “Down and Out,” as he handled the honors a day after his longtime manager, Joe Maddon, and teammate, pitcher James Shields, shared the responsibility prior to Game 3.
Longoria said he was initially going to be in attendance for the American League Championship Series, but the timing overlapped with a previously planned family vacation. He remained in touch with senior director of team travel and logistics Chris Westmoreland and said, “When you guys get to the World Series, [I’d] be happy to come out.”
Sure enough, the offer came with an invitation from managing partner Patrick Zalupski and CEO Ken Babby to throw out the first pitch.
“They’ve been incredibly gracious to my family in kind of continuing to welcome us back and wanting us to be part of the community and the team,” Longoria said Tuesday afternoon. “I’m just happy to be here.”
The Rays entered the night facing impossibly long odds in this Fall Classic, trailing the Brewers, 3-0. Only one team has ever fallen behind, 3-0, in a best-of-seven postseason series and come back to win: the 2004 Red Sox, who surged back to beat the Yankees in the ALCS. No team has made it as far as Game 6 after starting the World Series in a 3-0 hole.
But hey, have you ever heard the story about Game 162 in 2011? Of course you have, and Longoria was the face of that moment and Tampa Bay’s unbelievable comeback to claim a Wild Card spot and reach the postseason.
“You get into these types of games where every out matters and every situation matters, and you start to feel like every pitch matters. You’ve got to kind of disconnect yourself from that, because it becomes really difficult,” Longoria said. “The pressure starts to mount really quickly if you look at it that way. That’s the hard thing: How do you play loose, and play like these guys have played all year, in a situation like you’re in tonight?”
The Rays have recognized Longoria’s place in franchise history on multiple occasions over the past two years. Last summer, he signed a ceremonial one-day contract and officially retired as a Ray. They dedicated an entire weekend in July to his time with the team, first inducting him into the Rays Hall of Fame then retiring his No. 3 jersey.
Longoria was an integral part of the Rays’ turnaround in 2008, when they went from worst to first, reached the first World Series in franchise history then followed with three more trips to the postseason in the following five years.
Whether Longoria began one more memorable turnaround for this year’s team or not, he was hopeful that fans will appreciate the new ownership group’s work on and off the field in the Tampa Bay area.
“I think they’re more excited and more proud to be part of this community than ever, and I feel like this just kind of sets the stage for what’s to come,” Longoria said. “Hopefully Rays fans and the community are excited about the prospects of the future. They should be excited about the past, too.
“This franchise has continued to win, continued to evolve, so as the years go on, we just collect more and more Rays fans locally organically and watch it grow.”