Big Bunting Papi

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This afternoon at Fenway, David Ortiz celebrated Tim Wakefield Day in spectacular fashion.

First, with a home runa towering shot into the bullpenbut honestly that's nothing new. It was the 328th of Ortiz's Red Sox career, and certainly won't be his last.

More interesting, is what Ortiz did in his next at-bat

Send a bunt down the third baseline against the shifted infield for an easy, stand-up single.

This is something I'd love for Ortiz to do more of. Not too much, obviously. But if every once in a whilemaybe every 10 at-bats, or whenever the time's rightOrtiz simply laid an easy bunt down the line, it would really make teams have to re-think the shift. It would re-open gaps for a guy who's currently using the WHOLE field better than perhaps at any point in his career.

How many bunt singles would it take for the shift to slowly fade away: Five?

So, why not pull that punch a little more often?

Anyway, like I said before, today was Papi's 328th home run with the Sox, and while I'm not 100 positive on this next number, I believe it was the sixth bunt single of his career.

But here's what I know for sure. It wasn't his first time hitting a home run and a bunt single in the same game. That's happened at least once before.

April 23, 2006in a 6-3 win over the Blue Jays.

And who started for the Sox on that fateful day? You guessed it, the man of the hour at Fenway Park: Tim Wakefield!

Just kidding.

It was Matt Clement.

Rich can be reached at rlevine@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Rich on Twitter at http:twitter.comrich_levine

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