BOSTONPerhaps as hitting coach Dave Magadan said, David Ortiz is a man on a mission this season, looking to silence the questions before they could even start.
Whether or not that is Ortizs goal this season, he is giving observers very little to criticizeunless they are opposing pitchers.
Ortiz went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in Sunday afternoons 6-4 win over the Rays at Fenway Park, the Red Sox third straight win over Tampa Bay in the four-game series that concludes Monday. His sixth-inning double drove in the game-winning run.
In the three games against the Rays, Ortiz is a combined 9-for-13 with four runs scored, eight RBI, four doubles, a home run, a walk, and a strikeout. That gives him a three-game average of .692 and a 1.231 slugging percentage. Between Saturdays and Sundays games, he reached base safely in seven consecutive plate appearances.
It was Ortizs third straight multi-hit game, and first back-to-back games with three or more hits since Sept. 2628, 2007.
He is now hitting .444 this season, with a .694 slugging percentage and .475 on-base percentage.
David from the first day of spring came in in great shape and wanted to take a leadership role, manager Bobby Valentine said. And the best way to lead is to come up in a big spot and produce. Hes done that these first 10 days.
While he wont keep up that pace, it is certainly enough for Ortiz to keep the naysayers quiet. After getting off to slow starts in each of the last four seasonshis .267 average, .373 OBP, and .395 slugging in 2011 looked robust compared to the previous three seasonsOrtizs performance in this nascent season is at least enough to silence those who would say the 36-year-old designated hitter has nothing left.
Im a trooper man, Ortiz said after Sundays game. Been here 10 years. I just go by the business. I dont really care what anybody says or what anybody tries to put in my head. I just try to go by the business day by day, try my best and just let things happen.
All three of his hits Sunday came against Rays left-hander Matt Moore. Last season Ortiz hit .329 (.423 OBP, .566 slugging) against leftieswell above his career numbers of .264, .339, .473.
Ortiz is 6-for-13 (.462) against lefties this season, and has hit .339 (63-for-186) against them since the start of the 2011 season.
Im not trying to do too much, Ortiz said. Just stick with what they give me. Lefties are hittable, too. Just it all depends what your mindset it. They throw the ball over the plate just like righties. Just got to stick with what they give you.
There are going to be tough lefties that are going to get you out. Theres going to be lefties that dont give you pitches to hit. The other day we were facing Torontos Ricky Romero, and it was tough. He didnt really leave a pitch over the plate you could drive. Everything was either out, in, up, or down. There wasnt anything that you could really drive. They're going to pitch you tough, but whenever you get a chance to hit a ball over the plate, you have to. Youre not going to see it much.
But when Ortiz hits lefties the way he did Sunday, it tells Magadan all he wants to know.
Its telling me that hes a man on a mission, said Magadan. I think he obviously did that a lot last year. That was a big reason he had the year that he had last year. He understands that when hes swinging at strikes and driving the ball to the opposite field, it doesnt matter whos pitching. Hes going to have a lot of success. Its just my job to keep him doing that and corralling him in that zone where hes driving the ball of the Monster. Hes still got a lot of those hits left in him. Its fun to watch.
What is that mission?
Probably to get another contract, right? And for us to win a lot of games, Magadan said. Theres no question hes a rallying point on our team. When hes doing well and hes excited and into the game and hes getting big hits, he leads us. Its pretty infectious. I told him a couple years ago that hes got a lot of baseball left in him and hes showing that so far this year.
I think he just likes proving the media wrong. I think it was three years ago everybody was writing him off and a lot of us here in Boston felt like he still had a lot of baseball left in him. He was doing some mechanical things incorrectly and he was thinking a little bit too much pull. Whenever you see a guy taking batting practice and the balls coming in at 60 mph and he can hit a ball 450 feet in batting practice, hes still got bat speed, and I know a lot of that bat speed was questioned a few years back. But we all believed in him, he believed in himself and the rest is history.
Which makes Magadans job much easier.
Yeah, its always more interesting and a lot more fun to talk good things about guys and not have to explain the poor games and the poor at-bats, he said. So, Im lucky in that respect where most of these guys make me look good. Its been fun the last few days.