Projo Sports Blog

By Alan Schwarz
The New York Times

BOSTON - David Ortiz's at-bats still begin with a clap of his meaty hands. They do not, however, end with Boston fans clapping as heartily.

Once an annual most valuable player candidate, Ortiz is now the Red Sox's Most Vaporized Presence. He endured an unfathomable 0-for-12 stretch during the American League Championship Series before a meaningless triple late in the Tampa Bay Rays' 13-4 spanking of the Red Sox on Tuesday night, a day after his team's similar 9-1 embarrassment.

After striking out in the eighth inning, Ortiz heard a smattering of boos from formerly fawning Fenway Park attendees. As Boston teeters on the brink of being sent home by a franchise it once toyed with like catnip, the struggles of Ortiz are emphasizing how his team's identity has changed in the short and the long term.

For most of the five seasons before this one, Ortiz and Manny Ramirez formed October's most fearsome combination - a classic lefty-righty duo that pummeled its way to two World Series titles. But Ramirez is gone and, the triple notwithstanding, Ortiz is missing. The only consolation in Boston is that Ramirez and the Dodgers are just as close to winter as Ortiz's Red Sox.

Known as one of the best clutch hitters of his generation, Ortiz was neutralized during Monday's listless defeat, going hitless in four at-bats (the first three with runners on base). He grounded out twice Tuesday before lining a ball to the base of the right-field wall and chugging ambivalently around second, soon to score a run that cut Tampa Bay's lead by 10 percent.

Ortiz has driven in one run in eight games in this postseason and has not hit a home run in his last 15 games overall. Boston's offense now goes as Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis do; the man hitting between them, Ortiz, has been less Big Papi than popless.

Ortiz sounded frustrated Tuesday, appearing the criticize both his fellow hitters and the Red Sox' pitchers for the team's 3-1 deficit against the Rays.

"The problem is that everyone's focusing on Papi not hitting," he said, a reference to his nickname. "To tell you the truth, both of the series, with Anaheim and now with the Rays, Papi doesn't come to hit with men on base all the time, you know what I mean? I might come to hit maybe four or five times the whole series with men on second. I'm not going to change the game when you have a lead by 9 or 10 runs, whatever they're scoring right now."

This has been a trying season for Ortiz, 32, whose responsibility for the offense was lightened by the emergences of Pedroia and Youkilis. Ortiz started poorly in April, and just as he was regaining his old form, he injured his wrist and missed two months.

Such injuries often hamper power hitters even after they return, but Ortiz seemed to find his stroke by the end of the season: he hit five home runs and drove in 12 runs in his final 10 games, with much of that damage coming in three games against the Rays.

Nevertheless, Ortiz's poor performance in the playoffs has resurrected the question of whether the injury is still affecting him. Red Sox manager Terry Francona said he believed Ortiz was still less than 100 percent. Ortiz said: "I'm all right. I'm dealing with my hands and stuff, you know. But right now this is a situation that is a live-or-die situation, and I don't want to put too many things in my head."

When he appeared a potent force going into the playoffs, Ortiz spoke mostly about how he thought the Los Angeles Angels would pitch around him and instead challenge Youkilis. Sure enough, the Angels threw Ortiz mostly breaking pitches, and he chased many of them, particularly with runners on base. His four hits in four games drove in only one run.

The Rays had a similar strategy in this series, and Ortiz drew three walks in Game 2, which Tampa Bay won, 9-8. But his patience has not worked since. He took a called third strike in the first inning Monday, and two early groundouts Tuesday came after working 2-0 counts.

"I just kept going away, going away, and made him kind of expand his strike zone," said Matt Garza, the Rays' starter in Game 3. "He sure enough did."

Garza added, "No matter how much he struggles, it can always be that night that he comes out of that slump, and I didn't want to be that guy to let him come out of that slump."

Asked about Ortiz's struggles this postseason, Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon also tried to avoid waking a sleeping giant. While crediting the Rays' pitching coach, Jim Hickey, for preparing his staff, Maddon emphasized that they may only be delaying the inevitable.

"He may look bad one night or not get it done one night, but you cannot take it for granted he's not going to do it the next night," Maddon said of Ortiz. "We're very careful with him, now and forever."

Having Ortiz and Youkilis both go 0 for 4 on Monday was striking testimony to how the Red Sox have changed since the July 31 three-way trade that shipped Ramirez to Los Angeles. Ortiz and Ramirez had batted third and fourth - in either order - in every one of Boston's 31 postseason games from 2004 through last year. Not once did both go hitless.

Ramirez's replacement is no slouch. Jason Bay produced well enough during August and September that the Red Sox led all 30 major league teams by scoring 5.8 runs a game. And Bay has been one of the few Red Sox hitters producing this postseason; he had a .406 average entering Tuesday, with six extra-base hits and nine runs batted in. He usually bats fifth or sixth.

But with most other Boston starters struggling, particularly the creaky catcher Jason Varitek and center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, neither of whom started Tuesday - its lineup feels far more vulnerable now.

"Our offense was one of the best in baseball," Pedroia said Monday. "I don't see why we have to hit the panic button and do anything out of the ordinary."

With Ramirez gone and Ortiz missing, ordinary may no longer be on the menu.

 Tags  Boston Red Sox David Ortiz

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