DAVID ORTIZ

THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE
Red Sox HRs bomb the Blue Jays

August 25, 2004 ... The shortest route to victory for the Red Sox tonight was the long ball, the Old Towne Team knocking out four homers, three of them in a five-run fourth inning, en route to an 11-5 drubbing of the Toronto Blue Jays before a crowd of 22,479 at SkyDome.

Backed by Curt Schilling (16-6)  who let in, 1 run, 7 hits over 6 1/3 innings, the Sox wrapped up their six-game road trip with an impressive 5-1 record, paced by homers from Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz (two), and Orlando Cabrera. Ortiz, who also had an RBI double, finished with four RBIs. Cabrera added three and Ramirez chipped in with a pair, increasing his total to 102.

The Sox had the lead up to 11-1 before the Jays cobbled together four runs off Terry Adams and Mike Myers in the eighth. For the third time in as many nights, the Jays were first to crack the scoreboard, moving out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Gregg Zaun singled home Carlos Delgado.

But then came the explosive fourth inning, when the Sox made 11 plate appearances and racked up seven hits and five runs, all of them the product of the three home runs off Jays starter Josh Towers (9-5). Sox leadoff hitter Johnny Damon opened the inning with a ground-rule double to left, and with one out, Ramirez picked on an 0-1 offering and sent it screaming to straightaway center for his league- leading 34th homer. The shot also boosted Ramirez's RBI total to 102, after a pair of RBIs the night before had brought him to the 100 mark for a seventh straight season.  Ortiz, 0 for 9 in the series after his second-inning ground out, was next up and launched one over the wall, an elliptical shot right down the right-field line. It was the ninth time this season the Sox have cobbled together back-to-back HRs, and the fifth time Ramirez and Ortiz have teamed up for the bookend bombs. It was also the 32d homer this year for Ortiz, surpassing his career high of 31 last season. 

The Ramirez homer gave him 381 for his career, tying him at No. 49 on the all-time list with former Indians teammate Albert Belle. Just ahead at 382: Jim Rice and Frank Howard. 

Meanwhile, the sad-sack Jays could muster little off of the hard- throwing Schilling, who entered with a pair of victories over Chicago in his two most recent outings. The greater the Boston lead, the more futile the Jays looked. Following the second-inning run that produced the brief lead, they managed three hits in the next three innings, but never were able to do more than get a runner to second base.  Their best chance came in the fifth when they had runners at first and second with one out, but Reed Johnson ended the threat, and the inning, with his double-play grounder. In the sixth, again with men at first and second, Eric Hinske ended the threat by striking out.

Johnny Damon is dealing, he said, with some physical after-effects from that Damian Jackson collision last season, most notably its impact on his vision. He is sufficiently concerned, he said, that he has an eye exam scheduled and plans to have doctors check out a few other things, too, though he refused to be more specific.