David Ortiz Watch, Resumed
Posted on June 27th, 2009 in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
In the Globe, Tony Massarotti writes about the slugger’s remarkable resurgence.
Papi has his swagger back. Ortiz’s homer last night was his seventh in 47 at-bats dating to June 6, and his third in four games beginning with last Sunday’s win at Fenway Park over these same Braves. In his last 17 games (15 starts), Ortiz has slugged .796 and knocked in 14 runs…..
And to what does Ortiz or Massarotti attribute this comeback? A change in the swing? An injury healed? Contact lenses?
Here’s how manager Terry Francona explained it:
He was kind of lost for a while. Now he’s kind of found himself and it’s good for us.
And that’s about all he wrote.
Well, Red Sox fans—how does it happen that a player goes from looking beaten by an 88-mph fastball to a slugging percentage of .800?
7 Responses
6/27/2009 11:12 am
I don’t get your point-you say Ortiz was slumping because of steroids withdrawal. Now his slump is ending it’s because-what exactly? He’s back on them?
Really you should acknowledge that new evidence does not support your pet theory on the big guy. It shows the perils of publicly accusing someone on pretty flimsy evidence.
By and large people laid off of Arod and Manny until there was real evidence of cheating. We should do the same for others, and keep our suspicions to ourselves until real evidence comes along.
6/27/2009 11:21 am
Yes, I think he’s back on them.
6/27/2009 12:08 pm
You don’t really know how steroids work, do you, Richard? They’re not like video game power-ups, you know. I agree with Game 6 that the fact of his resurgence makes it more likely that the proximate cause of this slump was injury and resultant bad mechanics.
It’s neither evidence for OR against steroids use. And until there’s evidence, there’s no reason for Ortiz to be under a cloud more than any other major leaguer (which is not nothing).
6/27/2009 1:51 pm
For someone who wrote a book about baseball you seem to know very little about it sometimes. Every player goes through streaks where they are unbelievable and where they completely suck. That is why in baseball especially you have to look at very large samples, not streaks of a hundred at bats or so. Lets table the discussion of Ortiz until the season is over and we can see how steep his decline really has been. Just look at what Delgado did last year when he finally was healthy again to see how much an injury can sap the power of a certain kind of hitter.
6/27/2009 2:42 pm
OK, so when the big guy is slumping, it’s because of steroid withdrawal, and when he’s not, it’s because he’s back on them. So really, there’s no point in following his season because he’s damned by RB either way.
6/27/2009 3:26 pm
Hey Richard,
To what do you attribute A-Rod coming back to life?
6/29/2009 12:49 pm
All this banter is kind of fun. But in the end, RB is a big Yankees fan! This is as close to objective as he can get. Enough said.