Longoria, that is.

It's about time that I've found a new favorite player. For quite a while, it's been Eric Chavez. Plays 3b for the A's, great fielder, decent hitter. The problem is that he's injured constantly, and it's not really very interesting having a favorite player that never actually plays. Oooh...Chavvy had more back spasms today. Thrilling. Plus, it would be nice to choose someone on the Rays, now that we've adopted them living down here.

Evan Longoria was the perfect choice. The consensus #2 prospect in baseball, also plays third base, also wears #3, plays for the Rays, got to watch him in spring training, and suffered through the ongoing debate over whether or not to have him start the year in the majors. Towards the end of spring training, I picked up a Longoria #3 jersey online -- a custom one, since they didn't even make them yet.

Fast forward to Saturday, April 12th. We had tickets for this game already and he was making his major league debut. I was wearing the jersey, of course. He looked nervous in the field -- a couple of his throws were a little off-line, nothing major. He got his first hit and RBI on a single in the 6th. The Rays lost, but a promising career had begun.

On the way out, a man approached me and said "I've got to shake your hand. Evan's my son, and you're the first one I've seen wearing his jersey". Pretty wild!

We went to the game again last night, and saw him get his first home run, a shot that also tied the game. The Rays lost, again, (they're 0-4 in games that I've attended), but I'm pretty happy with this decision so far.

Also, check back later this week -- I'm preparing a primer on the Rays for those of you who don't really know them yet. This is a pretty exciting team this year and one that has big things ahead of it!