Ortiz was benched last night. But here’s how Mike Lowell explained Ortiz’s lack of production:

“I think we all still have a lot of confidence in David. I don’t buy the bat speed’s slow, I don’t believe in four months you lose bat speed. I don’t buy the Manny[Ramírez] deal. I just think he’s maybe not seeing the ball well.”

“I don’t buy the Manny Ramirez deal?”

That is the closest I’ve seen anyone in a Boston newspaper come to raising the question of steroid use.

(Then again, Lowell might mean that without Manny in the lineup, Ortiz doesn’t see as many good pitches to hit. It’s probably that.)

Meanwhile, the Sox lost another one-run game last night, another game in which a productive Ortiz could have made a difference. Another big problem for the Sox: Their pitching is uncharacteristically lousy.

Also: The Globe offers man-on-the-street advice to Ortiz. It’s not very good. The real concern? Ortiz will grow so desperate, he’ll get back on the juice…and fail a drug test!

(I jest, but not entirely.)

It strikes me that it’d actually be a pretty interesting newspaper story to look at the statistics and physical routines of players who have admitted to using or are thought to have used steroids. How does the body change back once the drugs are gone? Is it the same as pre-steroids, or worse? How much of a productivity drop can players expect? And is there any precedent for a player just crashing and burning, like Ortiz—someone for whom steroids made not just a marginal or major difference, but all the difference?

Sportswriters, you are welcome to run with that.

The Yanks, who are actually starting to play like a good team, beat Minnesota 5-4. Rookie Brett Gardner had a single, a triple, and an inside-the-park home run. Johnny Damon didn’t get an extra-base hit; he was thrown out of the game after arguing a third-strike call, the second one he’d received in the game’s first three innings.

I saw the replays; Damon was right both times. The pitches weren’t even close. Irritating when umpires don’t have the grace to admit they’re wrong, which this one could have done by letting Damon argue a bit, rather than ejecting him.