Rays Notes: Longoria, Kazmir, Garza, Biscuits, Edwards

Evan Longoria last appeared in a major league game on April 30th. Who knows when he’ll be back. This tweet from Buster Olney doesn’t inspire any confidence.

Longoria is currently at the ESPYS tweeting from the party, but he says that even though the parties are great, he wishes he could help the team.

Scott Kazmir, the first ace in Rays history, has finally returned to the professional ranks after getting released by the Angels last season. Pitching for the independent Sugar Land Skeeters in his hometown of Houston, Texas in his first pro game since June 14th, 2011, Kazmir allowed 2 runs on 2 hits in an inning of work, striking out 1 while walking none. He was only scheduled to throw 1 inning as he works his way back. Courtesy of the Skeeters, here are some quotes from Kazmir.

"(on returning to action)“It felt good. I was in the dugout at the time getting ready. It feels good being able to play baseball in my back in my home town. It has been forever. It is a good feeling.”(talking about his release)“No, physically I was healthy. It was just a matter of going back to the drawing board on pitching. I felt like I lost a little bit of my delivery. It wasn’t smooth and compact. The last four or five months I have been working on it. I have tried to get comfortable with my delivery again, feeling good about throwing strikes and getting the velocity back up there. It is still a work in progress, but I have made some big strides.”(about why he has returned to pro baseball)“Everything. Get back into the game for one thing. Getting comfortable out there on a daily basis, being able to be in the clubhouse and the whole baseball atmosphere, I feel like I needed that. It has been a long time that I have been out of the game. It feels good to be back here in the dugout and hanging with my teammates. I am just going to build every day to get better.”"

Especially in that third quote, Kazmir sounds the same as always. He’s still just 28 years old and it’s a shame how his career went downhill so quickly. He was our Sandy Koufax. He was the pitcher who gave us confidence that someday the lowly Devil Rays would be a team that could contend with the Yankees and Red Sox year-in and year-out. Good luck to Kazmir on his comeback attempt. We all hope we will be seeing him back in the big leagues someday.

Interesting comments from David Price regarding Matt Garza in an interview with 620 WDAE.

"“I hope he comes to the East, just so I can hang out with him. I told him whether he goes to New York or Boston, I hope he doesn’t go to Detroit, because the only time I’d see him then would be in the postseason. We’re done with [the Tigers on the schedule]. I hope he does. I hope he goes to one of those teams and I get to see him again.”"

Price remains great friends with the ex-Ray Garza and we’ll have to see what happens to him at the trade deadline. It would be very strange to see Garza in a Yankee or Red Sox uniform. If he does return to the AL East, at least the Rays hitters will know how he pitches from his time in Tampa Bay, maybe giving them some opportunities to beat up on their old pal.

The Rays’ Double-A franchise, the Montgomery Biscuits, were on the Esquire website on Wednesday as they were considered to have one of the ten best caps in baseball history. Full story here. Nice for the Biscuits to get some exposure.

And finally, the Rays’ second round pick in 2012, Spencer Edwards, finally got his first MLB hit in his third game. It was a very exciting moment and here’s what he had to say.