Ortiz in NY and other Sox matters
Apr 11th, 2008 by Bill Burt
Should David Ortiz have gone to New York City to film a commercial on his first “off” day back after the long three-week road trip?
The only reason it is an issue is because of his batting average, that is now .088 after another hitless night in the Sox 12-6 series finale win over the Tigers.
My view: Ortiz can do what he wants. It is an off day. The only problem is he loses the right to take heed (not that he has publicly) with the long, tiresome trip to Japan, Oakland, Los Angeles and Toronto. From talking to several players before and after the opener, they are still, believe it or not, tired from their escapades since late March.
Anyway, Ortiz deserves the benefit of the doubt. My guess is he planned that excursion to NYC long before he left for Japan and would probably not do it again. Consider it a learning experience.
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You are going to love Sean Casey. Of all my years covering professional sports, he is in my Top Five in terms of nice, normal guys. He has no edge to him at all, unless of course he is playing baseball. There, he is very intense. It is my hope he can be around not one, but two years, which is his dream.
“I’m getting a feel for how crazy Red Sox fans are,” said Casey. “The second game in Toronto, Red Sox fans took up the entire (left) side in the outfield. It was amazing. I’ve seen it here, but now I’m really seeing it in the few days we’ve been back (from Japan and Toronto). I love it here. Everyone seems to care.”
If he only knew.
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The Hawk-to-be-named later is still flying around Fenway Park, apparently not happy about having its “crib” removed by Red Sox employees. During early batting practice, the hawk was ominously flying over the third base side of the field and over the roof box seats looking for its nest, which was removed.
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Dustin Pedroia is a work-horse. He is the first guy at the park, usually around 1 p.m., and it’s all baseball. He’s a very intense young man. You can see there is an edge to him. Nobody is going to outwork him. While the Red Sox have a history of changing second basemen like a new mother changes diapers, expect him to be around here a long, long time. It’s just a feeling I have.
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The Yankees really blew it by not going after Johan Santana. They are going to be good this year, but maybe not good enough. Unless Chien-Ming Wang is an ace, and he just doesn’t have that presence, the Yankees will be in trouble every October, even if they do make the playoffs.
It should be interesting as he faces the Sox twice in five days, going against Clay Buchholz in both of them. The pressure is on the Sox young pitcher to prove his wares and facing the Yanks twice is a big chore. We may know a lot about both Wang and Buchholz within a week from now.
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I don’t think it’s a good idea to play the Yankees this early. It’s just not necessary. This rivarly is too big and there is too much going on — Frozen Four, hockey playoffs, Patriots draft, Celtics playoff run. This series should always be bigger than life and frankly, it is not conjuring up a lot of interest. Unless there is a bench-clearing affair, which I believe will happen this season, these games won’t hold the water they would a month from now. Just my opinion.
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A little football nugget: The Patriots are hosting Darren McFadden today in Foxboro. He arrived last night and made his way to Gillette Stadium this morning around 9 a.m. He will be around until early in the afternoon. As to what he will be doing, he will meet the position coaches, offensive coordinator and then spend some time with Bill Belichick. According to other players who have come through, Belichick likes to watch film with the young players and pick their brains a bit, sometimes critiquing the “bad” performances.
Would the Patriots draft McFadden? Yes, if they believe he is in the LaDanian Tomlinson mode. If they see him as potentially good to very good, that’s not going to cut it, making the much of a bonus ($20 million or so). I will be interested to hear how the day went. Stay tuned.
2 reader comments to “Ortiz in NY and other Sox matters”
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1John said:
Should be an interesting next 2 starts for Buchholz. He really hasn’t started well out of the gate and to face the Yank’s for his next 2 starts will be a good test. Again we shouldn’t make too much out of it since it is still only April.
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2Marsh said:
Lots of good stuff to talk about in this posting
Opening Day was fantastic and I was lucky enough to be there for the celebration (even though it was my only ticket of this yr so far I could get!!) The Hawk thing is pretty funny. When it came out on opening day the whole crowd just gasped then just started laughing. It was kind of creeepy b/c it was flying above the stadium and all you saw was the shadows on the field, it was creepy haha.
I am quickly becoming a big Sean Casey fan. The guy appears to be clutch. As much as I love Mike Lowell I am glad that we are going to get to see Casey for a little while. What about that play by Youk at third last night, oooooh that was beautiful!!
As for Papi, I think he will come around. I don’t think its his off field committments. He just seems like he is under everything so apparently its timing, the surgery he had takes weeks to recover from so I don’t think that is it either. He will heat up and we will forget about this slump!!
I think we should start a petition that Ellsbury start every day, what do you think? I can’t stand this switching every other day, its not healthy for my fantasy team either!!
Look forward to the Yankee series, however I don’t like playing them so darn early in the year and the weather is suppose to be horrible, not to mention it still physically hurts me to see Damon in Pinstripes!!!!! Lets hope we get all three games in and there is a sweep. I heard a stat that during Francona’s tenure we are 21-9 in April agains the Yankees but then we end up pretty even with them overall so we have to take advantage of this time!! Go Sox!!
