Red Sox Report: Big Papi Washed Up? Not!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalWorcester Sports Editor

For those of you who thought that David Ortiz was old and washed up, think again!

Big Papi is alive and well! Don’t believe me? Just ask the Tampa Bay Rays.

Ortiz torched Tampa Bay pitching over the weekend helping Boston win their third straight game over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays including Sunday’s 6-4 win at Fenway Park.

For the series, the 36-year-old designated hitter is 9 for 13 (.692) with 1 HR, 8 RBI and 3 doubles.

Most wondered last year whether or not Ortiz was reaching the end of the line after his traditional slow start in the month of April. He responded with a terrific season batting .309 with 29 HR’s and 96 RBI. Something Ortiz also did last year was hit left-handed pitching well which is something he hadn’t done for most of his career.

This year, Ortiz is an equal opportunity masher once again hitting both righties and lefties and he is having a hot month of April which is rare.

Ortiz agreed to a 1-year contract worth more than $14.5 million this past offseason after what appeared to be some reluctance by the club to sign him to anything more than a 1-year deal. Considering today’s salaries, he is proving to be worth every penny of that deal.

Don’t be surprised if Rays’ starter Scott Shields doesn’t come inside hard on Ortiz in the series finale Monday or even hit the Sox’ slugger. For better or worse, that’s the way baseball often works.

NOTES:

-The 3 consecutive victories over Tampa pulls the Sox up to (4-5) on the season. They are now just one game out of first place in the American League East because first place Baltimore lost to Toronto on Sunday.

-Pardon the Red Sox if they take an extreme amount of satisfaction in beating the Rays. Joe Maddon and the Rays have made it a point themselves to paint themselves as big underdogs when comparing their team to Boston which is true. But we don’t need Captain Obvious to remind us of it. Maddon and the Rays do it to not only make themselves look good, but to also make the Red Sox look bad. Stick these losses in your pipe and smoke them Joe!

-The news on Jacoby Ellsbury over the weekend was that he suffered a dislocated right shoulder and will be out for a minimum of 6 weeks. That’s a big loss for the Red Sox both offensively and defensively. However, shortstop Mike Aviles has done a nice job since being moved into the leadoff spot the past two games. He homered Saturday and again on Sunday from the leadoff spot making his manager look like a genius. If you recall, Bobby Valentine said late in spring training that he might consider hitting Aviles in the lead-off spot. This was after many thought that he preferred rookie Jose Iglesias over Aviles as his starting shortstop.

-Boston called up OF Jason Repko and OF-INF Nate Spears from Pawtucket before Sunday’s game. Repko started in center field going 0 for 3 at the plate with a strikeout.

-He may be hitting just .241 through 9 games but it seems as if the newly acquired outfielder Cody Ross has already contributed more to the Red Sox than JD Drew did for his entire career! Ross belted his second homerun of the season Sunday and his 3 RBI gives him 8 for the season. JD Who?

-Boston’s much-maligned bullpen has really settled down of late and came through in flying colors Sunday. After starter Felix Doubront gave up 4 runs on 9 hits in his 5+ innings of work, the Boston pen proceeded to roll out 4 pitchers who combined for 4 innings of 4-hit shutout baseball including another easy 9th inning for Alfredo Aceves who picked up his second save of the season.

-While it’s very early, Boston’s offense ranks near the top in all of Major League Baseball thus far. The Sox are 1st in runs scored with 47, 2nd in batting average at .284, 1st in on-base percentage at .354 and 5th in slugging percentage at .450.

-With Monday being marathon day in Boston, the Red Sox and Rays will throw the first pitch of their series finale at 11:05am at Fenway Park. Daniel Bard gets the start for Boston against Tampa’s Scott Shields.

-Following Monday’s game, Boston welcomes the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers to Fenway for a two game series Tuesday and Wednesday. Following an off day Thursday, the New York Yankees come to town for a 3-game weekend series beginning Friday night.