Big Papi not a big zero

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Fanatics tend to blow things out of proportion sometimes. Like, hitting numbers.

The time to worry about a hitter, or their numbers, isn’t May, like many fans have with one David Ortiz. I’d like to think the end of June is when you start to panic.

True to my thinking, Ortiz went 3 for 9 in his series with the New York Yankees. Two of his hits were solo homers — one to center field, the other to left over the Green Monster. Because of these two homers, many in Red Sox Nation (and believe me when I say I almost vomit when I write and/or say that phrase) are posing the question: Is Big Papi back?

I hate to admit it, but it’s the right question to pose. After all, he is 9 for 29 (.310 average) in the month of June with 3 homers and 7 RBIs. He’s finally above the Mendoza line with a batting average of .203, but still isn’t hitting his weight (Ortiz is listed as 230 pounds).

This is a slugger who’s getting paid $13 million dollars, so I can see where the urge in urgency lies — especially to this fan base.

Ortiz’s at-bats in this series have been positive. He went 0 for 2 with two walks in the middle game of the series, including a ball crushed just short of the warning track in center field for a fly ball out. Was it just a long flyout? Yes. Is it going to show up as a normal F8 in the scorebook? You bet ya. But, the ball was crushed.

It’s probably the weirdest things in sports: When ballplayers are breaking out of a slump they start mashing the ball but it’s usually right at someone. Then the opposite-field hits start piling up. Then a pitcher gets brave enough to try to sneak one past the player on the inner-half of the strike zone and the player pulls the ball, crushing it. Viola, you’re out of the slump.

When he isn’t being walked, he’s in “phase two” of breaking out of a slump, hitting the ball hard the other way and with power — as evidence by his opposite-field home run into the Monster seats last night.

If the Red Sox continue to get support from everyone else in the lineup, I don’t see why Terry Francona would move Ortiz back up to the 3-hole. He’s very productive in the 6-hole, and brings more balance to the lineup there.