I'm still working hard. I have all the love back home, which is the most important thing. I talk to them every night, what's going on, this and that. They're always there right behind me. I just have to wake up right now and let myself be great like last year.

I had it rough to come here to the Devil Rays. I played six years of Minor League ball and three of those six years were really bad. Worse than what I'm going through this year. And I learned from that. Nobody helped me. I started swinging the bat all of a sudden because I believed in myself. So if you believe in yourself you're going to succeed.

I've had the last two days off and that's helped. I cleared my head out, I'm ready to play. I haven't changed anything. I'm just planning to go up to bat, see the ball and hit it. All I've done the past two days was clean my house, clean the apartment, grocery shopping, dry cleaners, pay bills, the things everybody does. I didn't even thing about baseball. If it doesn't happen tonight, or tomorrow night, it's going to happen the next night. I've been working hard and doing everything possible for me to succeed.

Posted to my MLBlog courtesy of the crew at MLB.com during tonight's game.

I just hosted my family here for the past couple of weeks and we had a great time. Who all was here? My Mom, my Dad, my two brothers, my Dad's cousin from Monterey. My uncle, my aunt, their four kids, another cousin of my Dad's with their four kids, my grandfather's sister was here, the only sister left. She was here and I was so happy she was here. All together there was about 25 people.

Some stayed at the Don Cesar hotel and some of them went to Orlando.

Having them around really means a lot. Particularly during tough times, a tough streak. When you've got all kind of things in your head. When you leave the stadium and you see your family, personally, me, my mind just changes when I get home. I don't take baseball home with me.

So every day while I was in that slump, I'd come to the field not even thinking about how bad I was doing. I'm just ready to play that day. Whatever happens, happens. When I went 0-for-4, I see my family, I come back and I'm a different person, I'm not upset, I'm not mad. I felt like I know I gave my best.

Over the All-Star break I didn't have to go to Mexico. Mexico was here with me in Tampa.

I had a great time and they get to see how great the team is doing and how well I'm doing, even though I'm down a little bit right now. I had their support. It just can't get any better than that.

And of course I got some home cooking. Every morning, I had my eggs. A Mexican dish where dried meat is mixed in with scrambled eggs and a lot of salsa. That's a lot of love from my Mom. Every morning, my Mom would drive to my appartment and then go back to the Don Cesar.

And my Dad, he's the kind of person, he doesn't care where he is, he just wanted to spend time with me and I truly appreciate that. He'd spend the night at my place and we'd talk and talk and talk. And that's why he's a big part of it. He always gets me in the right direction. In the right spot. Every step of the way he's always been there and I'm so grateful for that.

This is posted before gametime on Jorge's behalf by MLB.com.

Sometimes you just get that thing at a ballpark where you don't feel comfortable, and I think that was the case over the weekend at Citizens Bank Park. It's going to haunt you a little bit then probably the second time around you'll come around a little bit. The whole weekend I didn't feel great.

Still, it's very exciting to have the lineup back like this. It was supposed to be like this since Opening Day -- which is when I was lunging for the ball in that AP picture above. Everybody is excited and wants to keep this thing going. To just build this winning atmosphere around us.

I feel like we are on the brink of really becoming a winning team, and I feel that way when one gets it started. Julio Lugo gets on and the rest of the team follows. I'm just so glad to be a part of it right now and not to have any more injuries.

Naturally, I am following Team Mexico in the World Cup. We lost today, but we're still in the second round. We're going against Argentina and the Netherlands.

To my fans, just a big hello. I'm reading everything and I'll try to write back when I have time.

Blog along with me >

I returned to the lineup since my last post, and things are coming along. My swing is coming along. I'm just another bat in the lineup. Rocco is back, too. Now that we've got the lineup back together, I think we're going to keep producing just like we did in Kansas City. I'm just so happy to be back. And I think we're going to keep finding a way to win.

It's good that everything seems to be coming together on the team. Our pitching has been tremendous lately. And the best part is, everybody is having fun. If we keep doing that we're going to win a lot of games.

I also have to say something about Mexico winning its first World Cup game on Sunday, since I spent so much time here blogging about playing for Mexico during our run at the World Baseball Classic. I'm pulling for them every day. Yesterday, everyone saw me celebrating the first goal. I stretched that day and then saw the end of the game. Mexico's next game is Friday against Angola.

Anyway, so far so good, and hopefully my fans will keep writing.

Here are a couple of AP photos below worth mentioning. The first one is me meeting our new first-round Draft pick, Evan Longoria.



The photo below is me breaking a bat. That was in the ninth inning on Saturday, and even though I'm only holding a bat handle, the ball made it to left field for my fourth hit that day.

Everything feels great, 100 percent. It's great to be back. No pain, no soreness. That's the most important thing.

We played it safe with the injury. We waited and it was worth it. I'm just happy to be back with the team.

While on my rehab stint at Montgomery, I was finding my timing, taking one strike or two strikes an at-bat just so I could get that feeling back. Timing and everything. It went pretty good.

When I was down there, I had deja vu about what it was like to be in the Minors. That made me work even harder to get here.

It was also a chance to spend time with players on that team and talk to them. Some of them asked and I'd tell them what I went through to get here. And that's understandable.

I've been getting a lot of emails from the fans on my MLBlog here, and I appreciate every single one of them. Until next time . . .

Jorge

Blog along with me >

We're talking about me playing again after the next road trip. June 1, the first game back after the road trip, that's when I'm supposed to be ready to go. We're taking it little by little right now.

I feel way better, this week from last week.

Boring at home

I'm still bored because I have nothing to do but stay at home. They just told me to go home and relax and stay off my foot. But mentally I'm trying to be ready. Like I haven't missed anything. Working in the cage at the Minor League complex for my timing.  It's working.

I'm getting to the point where it's 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon and I want to go to sleep so bad it can't go fast enough. So I'm in the habit of taking naps now.

This has been pretty much the hardest period of my professional career. But it's going to happen once in a while. You 've got to get used to it and get your mind right. I've been talking to my mom and dad every night.

I'm taking batting practice, there's not that much pressure on it. Rehab is going great. I do it at home too, with a machine that I got from these guys at night.

So it's just frustrating for me a little bit. I have to deal with it, that's the worst thing. I sit in my house or my appartment and I don't know what to do. I try to stay off my foot as long as possible. And I'm pretty much miserable right now.

Watching all my teammates. The team developing a winning attitude and everything. I want to be a part of it and I just feel left out a little bit.

This is my first time on the DL in the Major Leagues. I was on the DL once, in the Minor Leagues, when I twisted my left foot.

Just don't panic. Stay out there, stay in touch and I'll get back on the field and pick up where I left off.

The foot doesn't really hurt wearing street shoes. To do normal activities, not really. But when I put my spikes on, push it a little bit, rounding the bases a little bit, turning on the inside pitch, a little bit, that little stuff. But I have to overcome it. I have to stay positive and go out and try to win every day.

Every day I have treatment. In the morning, which I do personally, I have a little ultrasound thing. Everything is just coming around. It's not getting worse, it's not getting better.

I can manage the pain. It's just mental. I try not to think about it.

Past success against Yankees

It feels good. They have a great lineup, a great pitching staff, too. But we're not playing bad at all. We played well against them last year, and now we have to start over again; not take anything for granted; one out at a time. Our pitchers feel the same way, and our batters are just doing their jobs.

Everybody on this team I think is just ready to take anybody on. Our great coaching staff is doing a tremendous job with us. Keeping us staying positive and moving forward. No matter who is out there we do our best.

Right now it's not about records, it's April, still.

Hoping for a big home crowd on our return

That would be so nice. I really think that we need to win to have these big crowds back in Tampa. And I really want to know that our people back home are really following us right now. And if they can pack it every day, that will mean special stuff for us. Makes us more hungry to go out there and bust our butts every day. Give it all we got. I think with those crowds, everybody is going to be excited to play.

What's been going on since the World Baseball Classic

Just pretty much been getting my mindset for the season. I got off to a little slow start and then I had the foot injury. My mind was really focusing on the foot getting better. But right now everything is feeling all right. I just want to have that feeling of having the same season as last year, putting it together the same or better. At least one point better than last year. That's pretty much it. Make sure my mind is straight for the season.

Off to a good start

It's very exciting. We're putting everything together. Everybody is doing what they're supposed to do. And we're having a lot of fun. Our offense, our defense, our pitching. Everything is going well. We've got a tremendous group here, it's going to be something special.

Red Sox, Yankees and Texas coming up

It will be a tough road trip, but we're going to try and get the best of them. We're going to go out there and actually just play the way we've been playing since the beginning of the season. Don't back off. Play hard, pitch hard, swing hard. And whatever the results are we're going to be satisfied because everybody wants to win here.

Fans stay in touch, because I'll be in touch with you about your comments and questions. Keep posting comments. I'll try to reply back all I can.

First off -- I don't want to talk about me tonight. It's not about me, it's about what we did. I want everyone to know that this is a team game and what we did tonight was for our team and our country. We wanted to go with our chin up and play our best tonight. We wanted to say goodbye to our crowd -- we had an amazing crowd tonight and we got the win. Our pitching, offense and defense was so great tonight. The controversial call on Valenzuela's missed home run was a little unfair. I saw the replay and it looked like a home run; but, we got the win and celebrating with my teammates on the field after our victory was a special experience. What we did tonight was for Mexico and nothing else.

What we did as a team these past two weeks meant everything to us as a team and to our country. Our dream team is now big in Mexico. Like I said before: it's all about pride and being able to hold your chin up and battle with the best baseball countries in the world.

Tonight I saw the legendary Juan Marichal walk by. In 16 or 17 years from now I hope to be like Marichal: a legend in baseball. I want to recognized here in the United States and in Mexico and everywhere else in the world. That's what every ballplayer dreams to be. You just need keep that dream and work hard to head into that direction.

This blog has been a lot of fun for me. I check all the responses every day. I don't have time to respond to everyone; but it's been fun to read all of your responses and your enthusiasm has rubbed off on me and it's made me even hungrier to raise my game to a higher level for all of you.

So to all of you I appreciate your support big-time and you are always welcome to write in and I will try and respond to you. I have my computer with me all the time and when there is a free moment you will hear from me. But now it's time to get back to Florida and catch up with my other team -- the Devil Rays. Let me get back into the swing of things in Florida and when the season starts I may keep this going.

Thank you again for sharing this amazing experience with me.

Jorge

Hi everyone, it's been a couple of days and during that time we played two games against the two Asian teams -- Korea and Japan -- and they are very tough teams. They have great pitching and they shut us down for those two games -- there's nothing you can do about it, it's baseball. To me those games are in the past; I'm glad we played them. We now know how good they are on a baseball field and that's something to remember for the future. We're going to play the Americans this afternoon and we'll keep our chin up and play with pride. It was nice having a day off yesterday. You know what I did? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I pretty much stayed in my hotel room, did a little shopping with my dad and just rested -- no trips to Disneyland -- just hung out and talked to some friends. I needed the break.

There's a lot of things I've been taking in during this tournament and one memory I'll always have with me is that I was on the same team as Fernando Valenzuela. If you are Mexican you know who Fernando is (photo below) and I am so honored that he's been here with us. He has brought his incredible experience to this team and we all want to be like him in the future. Vinny Castilla is that way in the eyes of Mexico and the younger players on this team. He's the power hitter. I just go step-by-step, living day-by-day and hopefully people will one day look up to me the way they do to those two great players.

I'm a little surprised this tournament has caught on as quickly as it has with the fans. It's been such a fast turnaround from its creation to us actually playing. This is the right time of the year to play it. If we did this after the season I think a lot of people would be fatigued from a long season. It's been great. I'm getting my work in and I'm getting ready for the season at the same time we're playing some good baseball with the Mexican team.

It's been great just being a part of this first tournament. I gotta go and get ready for our game today. I'll have a few more thoughts later on.

Hi, everybody. I have to tell you, this has just been fun traveling around with this team. It's been a lot of laughs along the way and to be here in Anaheim for the second round of this World Baseball Classic just means everything to us and to the people of Mexico. We are trying to prove to everyone that we are really, really doing it and we are going to make that dream happen.

There are a lot of Mexicans here in Southern California and in Arizona, too, and boy, does that help. We love the support so our fans back in Mexico, watching on TV, realize what kind of fans we have in this country. So far it's been like a packed house, and for us that just makes it wonderful to play.

I know one thing . . . I heard about the Korean fans, with their cheering sections and their thundersticks. So there's going to be competition on the field and in the stands, which means the team with the best fans wins. I like a lot of people in the stadium; I like the atmosphere it brings.

People have been asking me if I was shocked that we are seeded over the U.S. in this round. I wasn't shocked at all. We played hard -- it just came down to the combinations with the U.S. and Canada -- because I guess we were all tied up. We just played hard, tried to score a lot of runs and our pitching really held up -- they didn't allow too many runs and that got us into first place. We didn't expect this, but playing hard paid off for us.

I got a call today from my other manager, Joe Maddon, who wanted to know how I was doing, what was going on and what the scenarios are -- which is good -- I know they are supporting me in Tampa Bay. I think Joe knows that we are facing great pitching here in the tournament from the teams that we have played and that I'm handling it pretty well -- especially after the Canada game. I felt like I was ready for the regular season and that's how you want to feel.

My teammates and I feel like we are in mid-season form right now and we have a great team in the Major Leagues. Everybody is feeling confident and going out there to prove themselves. We really are the dream team from Mexico and we are going to play like that.

I'll let you know how we did against Korea.


Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

Let's start todays blog with the game against Team USA. First of all I was very nervous. I got the adrenaline flowing as soon as I woke up that day. Just to let you know, I couldn't eat before the game. I was so pumped for that game and now the people in Mexico know what kind of quality we have. Team USA got away with a win. We both have good pitching staffs and the game was very close, but they were a little better on that day.

Next up for us was South Africa. Everything went well for us and we won 10-4. I hit my first home run of the Classic. I am starting to get into that rhythm and get in season shape. The rest of the lineup is getting loose with the bats and looking relaxed at the plate and thankfully we hit well against South Africa. We hope it's the beginning of good things to come and we score a lot of runs. Today's game with Canada will be a great match just like the game against the USA.

Today we win or we go home, it's just that easy. And I don't think anyone wants to go home yet. Whoever wins is going to the next round for sure, and Canada doesn't want to lose to us. So we we're going to go out there and bust our butts. Everyone is going to do his part and hopefully we do it together and wrap it up.

The best part has been the Mexican fans. They come from back home to support us and they realize what kind of baseball we are playing. They have been really supportive and that's the most important thing for me. I want to thank all the Mexican fans, because we are playing for them and our country.

Its been a great adventure and the WBC is a great event. It's unbelievable and I'm just so proud to be playing for my country. In the back of my mind I feel bad leaving my team behind in Tampa, but they are supporting me and even our new manager Joe Maddon is supporting me while I'm here and playing against all these all stars. It doesn't get any better than that and I'm enjoying every single minute of it

We played and exhibition game in Tucson against the Diamondbacks and it was great. The whole stadium was for Mexico. It's right there on the border and that's what we want. The support out here has been great and we want to take advantage of that. It's going to be huge and we are excited about it and we are going to do our best.

I have a lot of family coming out for this. My family and friends are all going to be here all with the big sombreros rooting for the team. They got in late last night and got to mingle with the players from the USA and Canada and South Africa and that's a thrill for them as it is for me. That's the beauty of baseball. You never know where you are going to be and in what situation..

We play the USA today and it is going to be a great game. Both teams are strong and have strong pitching and the best team is going to win.

I am excited about starting another year of baseball with the Devil Rays, and this will be extra-special for me because I will be playing in the World Baseball Classic.

First of all, it’s going to be a great honor that I’m going to be with Mexico. Second, playing in the WBC, it’s not just baseball, it’s the whole country of Mexico. Hopefully people will realize there’s something more to Mexico than soccer.

I was asked here at Spring Training if I have any early predictions for this first-ever event. We’re hopefully in the semifinals: United States, Dominican, Venezuela and Mexico.

I am here with the Devil Rays at Spring Training in Florida now, and then I go to Team Mexico's training camp from March 3-6 in Tucson, Ariz. Then comes our first game against the U.S. team on March 7 at Chase Field in Phoenix. I will be sharing my thoughts here during the WBC so I hope you'll join me and feel free to leave comments.

Jorge