By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Monday, May 2, 2011
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said he will be "close to 100 percent" physically when he returns to the Rays as scheduled on Tuesday.
Longoria, speaking on a conference call, said he has felt increasingly comfortable during his rehab assignment at Double-A Montgomery, where he will play his fourth and final game tonight. He has been out since April 2 with a strained left oblique.
He said he expects to be about 85 percent comfortable facing big-league pitching on Tuesday but that it should only take him a couple games to feel fully comfortable.
And because the Rays have played so well in his absence, he said there won't be much pressure on him to have to carry the team.
"It definitely makes it a lot easier to come back into a lineup where everybody has been hitting for the most part and they've been putting runs on the board,'' he said.