Longoria mentioned that it had been bothering him for the past couple of weeks, but he has been able to play through the pain.

“It kind of gets to the point where I don’t really feel like I’m doing any good to go out there and run on it,” Longoria said. “It’s something I haven’t dealt with before, and it’s pretty painful. It’s kind of a weird deal, but it’s not going to keep me off the field.”

It’s possible that Longoria continues to be the Rays designated hitter through the rest of the series with the Royals as they try to keep the injury from getting any worse. Hopefully, it is able to heal through rest and not having Longoria in the field, as he may be the key to the entire lineup. With the Rays still hanging around in the competitive AL East, losing Longoria for any length of time would be a serious blow.

Moving to the minor leagues, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park was named one of the top vegetarian friendly ballparks in terms of dining fare by PETA. DBAP has now made the list in each of the past seven years that PETA has been rating the ballparks. In addition to traditional ballpark fare, the Bulls offer such options as black bean veggie burgers to veggie (not chicken) nuggets and hearty tofu burritos, and have expanded their menu each year. As more people look for healthier diets and vegetarianism and veganism become more prevalent, ballparks may need to adapt in order to draw more money in through their concession stands. Right now, the Bulls appear to have been ahead of the curve.

In his first start since May 26, Alex Cobb began the game with a strong outing, striking out two batters in the second inning before walking Alex Avila in the third inning. Sam Fuld also got the Rays’ first hit of the game in the third inning off of the Tigers’ Doug Fister.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Cobb gave up a single to Avisail Garcia and decided to intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera, considering the Tigers had two outs and one runner on base. Cobb went on to strike out Prince Fielder to end the inning. Despite Evan Longoria’s single in the seventh inning and Yunel Escobar drawing a walk from Fister in the eighth, both the Rays and the Tigers remained hitless through eight innings.

The eighth inning was rough for Cobb as he gave up a single to Andy Dirks but then Dirks advanced to second base after a throwing error by Cobb. The Rays’ starter went on to intentionally walk Cabrera for the second time before being replaced with reliever Joel Peralta, who finished the inning by striking out Fielder.

However, it did not take the Rays long to heat things up in the ninth inning as Fuld and Ben Zobrist had back-to-back singles. Fuld scored the Rays’ first run of the night off of Matt Joyce’s sacrifice fly. After leading 2-0, Desmond Jennings solidified the Rays’ lead with a triple, allowing Longoria to score the final run of the night.

Fernando Rodney kept the Tigers from scoring in the bottom of the ninth inning as he gave up a leadoff walk to Victor Martinez but struck out two batters to finish the game strong for the Rays.

While Peralta picked up the win for the Rays, Alex Cobb gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, and had 7 strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Peralta had 1 strikeout in 0.1 innings, lowering his ERA to 1.98. Overall, the Rays pitching staff had 10 strikeouts Wednesday night.Tigers starting pitcher Fister gave up 7 hits in 8.1 innings against the Rays, while only striking out 4 batters. Reliever Smyly only had one strikeout, giving the Tigers 5 K’s for the evening.

Rays third baseman Longoria went 2-for-4 and had 1 RBI on Wednesday night. Tomorrow the Rays will face the Tigers once more in the rubber match of the series.

This year, both players were selected once again. Longoria was selected sixth by Dave Cameron, selecting him over Troy Tulowitzki or Giancarlo Stanton. Cameron explained his selection, stating that:

“For me, this came down to Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki, or Giancarlo Stanton, each of whom are great when they are on the field, but each come with some injury concerns. Longoria’s health issues scare me a little less than Tulowitzki’s, though, and he’s a better player right now than Stanton due to his tremendous defensive value. I love all of them, but I’ll take the safest road and build my franchise around a 27-year-old superstar in his prime.”

The injury concerns with Longoria are definitely there, as he missed 26 games with an oblique strain in 2011 and another 85 games last season with a hamstring injury. However, when healthy, Longoria is a top third baseman both offensively and defensively, presently ranking fourth amongst third basemen in Wins Above Replacement. For proof of Longoria’s ability to transform a franchise, one only needs to look to last season, when the Rays were 41-44 without him in the lineup, yet 49-28 when he was healthy.

Price just made it, being selected with the thirtieth and final selection in the draft by Keith Law. Law felt that the injury, and not Price’s poor start to the season, was the reason behind his drop, stating that:

“Price is the best player still available by far, and probably only here because he’s on the disabled list.”

It will be interesting to see if other teams still feel the same about Price if he pops up on the trade block. His performance when he returns will likely go a long way to how he would be perceived. If he continues to struggle, and puts up, by his standards, mediocre numbers, then any theoretical return would be decreased. However, if he gets back to the form he has displayed over the past three years, then this injury could be considered a minor blip on the radar.

This season, ESPN also added an informal Round Two, and two more Rays were selected. Matt Moore was taken 32nd, and Wil Myers went 53rd. Moore was selected on the thought that he could possibly be the best pitcher in baseball over the next five years, while Myers was taken based on his power potential, being referred to as a ‘prototypical slugging right fielder.’ These selections help illustrate the high regard for both the Rays present and future.

What do you all think? Is there a Rays player that you feel should have been selected amongst the top 60 that had not been chosen? Let us know in the comments.