ESPN Buster Olney Blog

You might watch Evan Longoria hit and have a bout of "Where have I seen that before?" syndrome. And maybe this is what you were thinking of: "Happy Gilmore."

In the Adam Sandler movie, the ex-hockey player turned golfer strides into his powerful swing, which you can see about 24 seconds into this YouTube clip. If you stand outside the batting cage when Longoria takes his swings, you'll see a man that is totally relaxed. And with his feet relatively close together as the ball is delivered, he takes one stride forward and bang. The other day against the Red Sox, he reached down to hack at a shin-high fastball from Brad Penny, and from the center-field camera angle, it seemed like Longoria might have lifted a fly ball to Jacoby Ellsbury at medium depth.

Instead, the ball rocketed toward center field on a line, and Ellsbury kept drifting back and back, looked up, and the ball landed in the stands about 420 feet from home plate. By the end of the day, Longoria had 44 RBIs in the Rays' first 32 games, the first player to accomplish that feat since Roy Campanella drove in 45 runs in the first 32 games for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953.

For more, Longoria is the cover story in ESPN The Magazine this week, which includes the video of his cover shoot.

And every time Longoria comes to the plate, it seems like there are runners on base, he tells Marc Lancaster.

Some sloppy defense cost the Rays in Fenway on Sunday night, and they are not yet worthy of being compared to last year's team, writes Marc Topkin. Longoria and Carlos Pena remind one player of, well, himself and another guy, B.J. Upton feels comfortable at the plate, writes Marc Lancaster.

Also of note

• Something to watch: Boston's pitching surplus might lead to an early-season trade. Clay Buchholz has been absolutely dominant in the minors so far this year, and very soon, Daisuke Matsuzaka will return to the big leagues.

Eventually, it figures that Justin Masterson will go back to the Boston bullpen, and that will create the spot in the rotation for Matsuzaka. If the Red Sox want to create another for Buchholz, they would always have the option of taking offers for a veteran pitcher who has had quality starts in four of his six outings. That guy is Brad Penny, who might be a nice fit for a team like the Milwaukee Brewers or the Mets. That's all speculation at this point.

• Earlier in the decade, there were a lot of hitters who wore protective gear on the front sides of their arms when they batted: enormous elbow and wrist padding, which made them a look a little like armored knights heading off to battle. What this stuff allowed them to do, of course, was to hang out over the plate with less concern about being hit by a fastball inside, because the impact of a heater would be dulled. The most prominent example was Barry Bonds. Major League Baseball stepped in and cut down on the padding for a lot of guys, but in watching games this season, it seems that the issue has re-emerged. There are a whole lot of hitters wearing body armor.

• Frank McCourt says he was initially angry about the news of Manny Ramirez's drug suspension, but he sat down with Ramirez and seems to feel better about it. A lack of outrage at Ramirez shows some scrambled priorities, writes Kurt Streeter.

The absence of Ramirez has been acutely felt by the Dodgers, who are 1-3 since the outfielder was suspended.

• Stephen Strasburg could conceivably go right to the big leagues if the Nationals can sign him quickly, and one director of scouting can relate. Eddie Bane, who serves in that role for the Angels, in 1973 became one of 20 players since the draft was instituted to be selected and go straight to the majors. Bane came right up out of Arizona State after going 40-4 with a 1.64 ERA for the Sun Devils.

In 2004, Bane negotiated with Scott Boras over another highly touted amateur, Jered Weaver, and of course, Boras advises Strasburg now. "When we drafted Jered Weaver," Bane told Kirk Kenny, "Scott [Boras] sent a letter to the Angels explaining why he wanted all the money for Jered Weaver because he posted Prior's stats and Weaver's stats [as a comparison].

"I sent him a letter back and said, 'Here's my stats. I was better than both those guys, but I won seven games in the big leagues.' "We're certainly looking for more wins than that."

As Kirk notes, Prior received a draft-record $10.5 million in 2001. Weaver received $4 million from the Angels, which, by the way, was only $850,000 more than Matt Bush received from the Padres that year.

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