June 27
Boston Globe
columnist Tony Massarotti
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Plopped in a love seat, wearing a white polo shirt and jeans with his hair closely cropped, a relaxed David Ortiz suddenly looks like the picture of summer. And as the Red Sox methodically march through the soft middle of their schedule, maybe it is more than a coincidence that some thump has returned to the heart of their lineup. "It all depends on how Papi is swinging,'' Ortiz said last night when asked about a solo home run that opened the scoring in a 4-1 Sox win over the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. A pitch he had trouble with early in the season, perhaps? "Everything was tough to hit early in the year,'' Ortiz cracked. But here we are, in the final days of June, and a funny thing ..."
June 24
Boston Herald
columnist Michael Silverman
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Sure, Dave Magadan thinks the worst is over for David Ortiz after his April-May slump. But the Red Sox hitting coach has not exactly crossed Ortiz' name off his worry list. "No, I don't do that with anybody," Magadan said before Ortiz sat out last night's 11-3 win against the Nationals. "Success in this game, no matter who you are, is so fleeting, you have to stay on top of everybody. The goal is to nip stuff in the bud. "It's why it's so important to know every guy and what guys are doing when they're going well, and, when they kind of get away from it, to step in there before an 0-for-6 turns into an 0-for-20." Ortiz' struggles were beyond comprehension. Without a home run until May 20 ..."
June 22
Boston Herald
columnist Michael Silverman
"
This will be hard for some people to read, but all of a sudden there is nothing major to complain, criticize or worry about when it comes to the Red Sox [team stats]. Just a couple of weeks ago, even as the Red Sox were moving into first place in the AL East, every bartender, barista or buddy you bumped into still wanted to gripe about how Julio Lugo [stats] was not a worthy shortstop, how David Ortiz [stats] was washed up and Daisuke Matsuzaka [stats] was unbearable to watch. Then you have a day like yesterday. Snap, problems solved. Shortstop Nick Green, the walkoff home-run hero in the Red Sox' 6-5 victory over the Braves, has made Lugo a $9 million afterthought who has not played in ..."
May 21
Boston Globe
columnist Tony Massarotti
"
Nestled between his 33d and 34th birthdays, David Ortiz has been resting in a power hitter's purgatory. Ortiz has been behind the fastball and in front of the offspeed pitch, inconsistently shifting between his front foot and his back. He is, perhaps, caught in the transition from the prime of his career to the twilight. Even in the immediate aftermath of his first home run this season, whether Ortiz resurrects himself remains up for debate. More than a few careers have died in those same shadows. "There's evidence both ways," one longtime major league evaluator said yesterday when asked if Ortiz is in a nosedive that has signaled the demise of many a power hitter. "I think the weight and ..."
May 21
Boston Globe
columnist Dan Shaughnessy
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He was walking the line. Not like Johnny Cash. David Ortiz was walking the Mendoza Line. "I was about to hit righthanded," he admitted. Batting an even .200, homerless in 35 games, Big Papi finally found his mojo last night. In the bottom of the fifth inning of Red Sox game No. 40, Ortiz turned on a 1-1 pitch from Toronto southpaw Brett Cecil and swatted the ball into the camera triangle in center field. It was pretty much the same spot where Bob Gibson's homer landed in the seventh game of the 1967 World Series. Hallelujah. The planets are aligned. Order has been restored in the baseball universe. David Ortiz finally has a home run. "I feel like I got my confidence back," Ortiz said after ..."
May 20
Boston Globe
columnist Dan Shaughnessy
"
Still bummed about the stunning, sudden departures of the Bruins and Celtics? Imagine how David Ortiz feels. No one needed the B's and C's to keep going more than Big Papi. The longer the playoffs ran, the longer eyes were averted from his pitiful numbers. As long as Zdeno Chara and Paul Pierce were still grasping for the grail, Papi had a chance to lie in the weeds and crawl back to his feet. Kendrick Perkins's dunks took our minds off Ortiz's funk. Hating on Scott Walker was easier than the cold reality of Papi's OPS. But last night, there was nowhere to hide. The Bruins and Celtics had cleaned out their lockers, and the Red Sox were back home from the West Coast, and we all returned to ..."