Evan Longoria makes three great plays, compares self to Ron Burgundy

Not only was Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays out of his mind playing third base Tuesday, he said he also was out of his body.

Longoria made three outstanding defensive plays of varying difficulty against the Baltimore Orioles, including a spectacular dive to his right in the fifth inning to rob speedy Adam Jones that also required a roll and a throw from his rear — all in one motion.

Longoria also made two other athletic plays, both similar-looking dives and throws — appearing to knock down the ball both times before picking it up and firing — to get the speedy Brian Roberts in the fourth and the less-speedy Matt Wieters in the ninth.

The Orioles won 7-4 thanks to a big seventh inning against Tampa Bay's bullpen, but Longoria's plays kept the Rays in the game. And his own performance got Longoria thinking in existential terms:

#Rays Longoria on his plays at 3B: "It's kind of that Ron Burgundy moment where you just black out and you don't really know what happened."

— Adam Berry (@adamdberry) April 2, 2013

I've seen the film "Anchorman" one or two dozen times, but I'm not sure what Longoria is getting at.

Does he mean that Tropicana Field was "like a glass case of emotion" for him because he was making all of these superhuman plays? Or is he referring to Burgundy's propensity to "zone out"and read whatever is written on the teleprompter? Did he have to stop himself from picking up one of the balls and punting it, like the mean biker punted Baxter? Did the Germans discover Tampa Bay and name it for a "Whale's Vagina"?

No matter what Will Ferrell movie Longoria found himself in, he was making his own art at third base on opening day at the Trop. Thank you, little baby Longoria Jesus!

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