And then he blossomed into the most feared clutch hitter in baseball, a slugger of Ruthian proportion. He was Yaz-like when it mattered and there was no way to pitch to him.
Now he is in a dreadful slump. He is 0 for 13, and 1 for 25. He is 3 for 39 on the season. Among those with enough at-bats to qualify, he owned the second-lowest batting average (.077) in the majors after last night's game. He is lower than low, lower than Rob Lowe, lower than Barry Manilow.
Last night's Yankees starter, Chien-Ming Wang, didn't need to look at his book on David Ortiz. Wang sends his monthly mortgage payment to Big Papi. Ortiz owns the righthander. Going into last night's game, Ortiz was 15 for 30 against Wang with 4 doubles, 2 home runs, and 6 walks.
None of it mattered. Ortiz's slump continued. He took a called third strike in the first. Then he hit into a double play in the fourth. In the seventh, he hit a feeble grounder to first and barely took the trouble to run down the line. He was on deck when Wang retired Dustin Pedroia to close out New York's 4-1 win.
Unless you've been there, it's just about impossible to explain what is happening to Big Papi at this hour. Maybe you felt like this if you lost your ability to make the short putt. Or maybe you found yourself stuttering when speaking in front of a crowd. If that's happened, then you know.
Hitting, putting, and public speaking are similar this way: the harder you try, the worse you are likely to do. As soon as it gets into your head, you are beaten. This is part of the beauty of Manny Ramírez. The Man-Ram knows nothing of slumps. Every at-bat is a clean slate. No baggage. No lugging an 0 for 10 up to the plate.
The same cannot be said for the lovable Papi. He's got an injury - his right knee (meniscus) was surgically repaired after the end of last season. He had trouble getting into his crouch much of last year and now it appears the mended knee is troubling him again.
But this is more. This is bad luck and bad form.
