|
THE RAYS and A ONE WAY
TICKET TO "MANNY-WOOD" ...
Big Papi comes up
grand
April 18,
2008 ...
The frustration seemed to melt off David Ortiz after one sweet swing.
One swing that elevated him from the role of struggling big man to
dominant designated hitter. That's not to say, of course, that
Ortiz's ordeal is over. One hit, even a grand slam, does not
necessarily cure several weeks' worth of strikeouts,
not-quite-checked swings, and ground outs to the right side.
Ortiz had
been feeling better this week, since Red Sox manager Terry Francona gave him a
mental health day Sunday. His knee had been good. His outlook, too. And,
certainly, his swing.
And for
Daisuke Matsuzaka, who needed a bit of a bailout, it was the perfect time to
connect, with the Sox trailing by a run and the bases loaded. And the perfect
swing, which lifted with it the 37,902 fans packed into Fenway Park.
After the
ball came down in the front row of the Monster seats in the third inning, after
his teammates gave him a brief version of the silent treatment before exploding
in congratulations, Ortiz seemed ready for it to happen again. He followed his
opposite-field shot with a liner to left in the sixth and a ringing single to
right-center to score Sean Casey in the eighth.
With two
outs in the third, Jed Lowrie doubled, his first extra-base hit (and second hit
of his big league career). That was followed by Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin
Pedroia walks against Luis Mendoza. Then came Ortiz.
It was
Ortiz's second home run of the season, the other coming April 2 at Oakland, and
also just his second extra-base hit. That is not normal for him, nor is the .111
average with which he entered the game, nor the four RBIs, an output he doubled
on one swing. It has all quite obviously been weighing on him, which prompted
the day off. Since then, Ortiz started using his knees more. After all, they can
handle it after off-season surgery. After having just three hits in 12 games
before his day off, Ortiz has six in the five games since.
Matsuzaka,
meanwhile, isn't where he's supposed to be. Though he had come up with two
straight good starts after his poor outing in Tokyo, his last two (including
last night) haven't been nearly as positive. He has given up seven earned runs
over 10 1/3 innings in his last two outings, failing to pitch deep into games
and not consistently throwing strikes early in counts. He allowed a run in the
third inning, then a two-run homer to Hank Blalock in the sixth that knocked him
out of the game.
Ortiz's
grand slam was followed by a five-run fourth inning that put the game out of
reach for the Rangers. Four players had RBIs in the inning, which was capped by
Pedroia's two-run home run that also scored Ellsbury (triple). Ortiz added his
RBI single in the eighth, and Ellsbury scored for the third time on an error by
first baseman Jason Botts.
David Ortiz's grand slam was the eighth of his
career, and first since Aug. 18 against the Angels. It was his seventh with the
Sox, tying Jimmie Foxx, Jackie Jensen, Manny Ramirez, Mo Vaughn, and Carl
Yastrzemski for sixth place in team history. All seven have come at Fenway,
tying the club record held by Ted Williams and Jim Rice. |
