PHILADELPHIA -- As David Ortiz tells it, two of the little guys in the Red Sox dugout, Alex Cora and Alex Gonzalez, were pondering the magnitude of Ortiz's home run last night into the second deck of Citizens Bank Park, a ball that at one time appeared headed to the same spot -- a
''Alex Cora told Alex Gonzalez, 'David's ball, he almost got to McDonald's,' " Ortiz said. ''Alex went, 'That ball didn't even make it to
''Bro, to hit a ball out there, you gotta be strong, baby."
But even before Ortiz's two-run home run in the fifth inning, one of three home runs the Sox hit in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston manager Terry Francona had said it might not make much difference moving the fences back 5 feet, as the Phillies had done over the winter, in a park David Wells last year said was better suited for the Little League World Series. Not with Big Papi at the dish.
''I don't know, some of those balls David hit, you'll have to move the upper deck back five rows," Francona said.
Ortiz's 14th home run of the season, which followed Mike Lowell's two-run home run in the second and Jason Varitek's solo homer (and second home run in three games) in the fourth made a winner of Matt Clement, who had what was a rare view of Ortiz's home run, given that he was standing on third base at the time.
Being a former National Leaguer, Clement has more experience at the plate than the Sox pitchers whose only chance to hit comes in these interleague games. But that's not the same as saying he is an accomplished hitter. Clement came into the game batting .093 lifetime (32 for 345) and had not had a hit in nearly two years (single on Aug. 24, 2004, against Houston) until he caromed a single off losing pitcher Jon Lieber, a former Cubs teammate.
The ball skipped over to third baseman David Bell, who threw wildly to first, allowing Clement the benefit of an extra base. He took third on Trot Nixon's fly ball and scored ahead of Ortiz's home run, which made it 5-1.
''I usually don't do too much assessing of my [hitting]," said Clement, who made that lead stand up until departing after giving up two-out singles in the seventh to Alex Gonzalez (the other Alex Gonzalez in the box score) and Jimmy Rollins, both of whom scored on Chase Utley's double off Keith Foulke.
''I used Trot's batting gloves and Dustan [Mohr's] bat," Clement said. ''Last year, I tried a different mixture. I used [Mark] Bellhorn's bat and I don't remember whose gloves, but it didn't work out."
