No one in Boston likes to talk about it, but the days of Ortiz hitting 35+ HRs is over. After another weekend of not hitting HRs, and watching his batting average stay just above .200, you have to start to wonder how long the Sox can go on keeping Ortiz batting 3rd. The Sox obviously have options. If it was me I would start batting Bay in his spot, and drop Big Papi down to 7th, at least until he finds some kind of swagger in the batters box.
I love Ortiz, but it is obvious that this "slump" is in his head now...
"I'm not happy," Ortiz said before the game. "Why should I be? But I'll tell you what . . . I'm just gonna keep the flow, keep playing the game, not worry about too many things. I don't want to be listening to all the negativity, all the [expletive], everybody come with. Because it seems like it's never enough. People all they like to see is people fail so they had a reason to talk [smack].
"So I'm not paying attention to any of it. I'm trying to stay away from talking because I don't need to talk, I need to do things right now. I will do things, believe me (Boston.com)."
I like that he is fired up, but I will admit my faith in Ortiz is all but gone. It is time to make some moves with the lineup. There are players that deserve Ortiz's spot in the lineup, and it is just a matter of time before Francona is going to make the decision to move arguably the most clutch Red Sox of all-time. We are witnessing an end of an era....and what an era it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment