"Maybe this was the start, the real start, that two-run line-drive double to left-center in the first inning against the Yankees on Monday night. The Tampa Bay Rays didn't score in 16 innings Sunday night into Monday morning. Now, three batters in, they were up two. And for a moment, at least, it looked like Longo.

That kind of at-bat, the one that made Evan Longoria an All-Star his first three major-league seasons, has been missing this season more than he and the Rays would like, and nearly nonexistent at the Trop.

It's the kind of at-bat the Rays will need from Longoria, constantly, down the stretch. There's no margin for error, not like with those Yankees and Red Sox lineups. The Rays need their big guys to be big, and Longoria is the biggest.

"From a personal standpoint, I'm not where I'd like to be, but you still have an opportunity to play in the postseason," Longoria said before the opener of this crucial four-game series with New York. "My focus has to be winning, every day, not what my numbers say. There's a lot more I can do to help this team win."

He entered Monday's game just 2-for-21 in his previous five games and hitting just .233 on the season, 44 points below his career average. More to the point, Longoria missed 26 games with a left oblique strain. There has been a beyond nagging nerve problem in his left foot. He's not out of the woods. He's still searching."