Major A$$ Slump?
By Matt DeLucia
I’ll call it what it is, it’s a slump! Albeit a very bad one, the worse he’s ever had in his major league career. But none the less it’s only a major a$$ slump that David Ortiz is currently going through. It’s not steroids (or the lack of them) as most headlines and people would like you to believe. We would have heard if he actually failed a drug test sometime over the course of the two months of this season. We haven’t so like I said it’s not that. We can also cross off his vision or his eyes. Since they were just checked on Monday and he was given a clean bill of health in that regard.
It’s not like he’s missing Manny hitting behind him these days. Not when you have the mild mannered Jason Bay hitting in front of him in the Boston line-up. So if it’s not those things, then what is it. Could it be age? I’d have to say no to that, especially if he’s actually 33, and didn’t lie about his age (like some players do) back in the early days. The Sox did check out the age situation before they traded for Big Papi, years ago when he was playing for the Twins.
So let’s go over the list of possibilities:
Steroids
Age Issues
Vision Issues
Missing Manny
Inability to lighten the load on himself
Let’s see then so far we’ve crossed off problems 1,2,3 and 5. Which leaves us with #’s 4 and 6, that it might be. So let’s just take a brief look at them.
Looking at issue #4, this might actually be the biggest issue, which could be causing all the problems for Ortiz. Because any athlete who’s ever played in the Boston sports market (regardless of sport) knows Bostonians place a ton of pressure upon their shoulders. We expect the best each and every season from our athletes. It’s been that way for numerous decades and I’m sorry to tell you this, but it’s not going to change anytime soon.
We pay are athletes well, and in return we expect big rewards. Big Papi is one person who’s definitely been paid well and has earned every dam penny of it along the way. Has everyone forgotten that he carried us on his back, in the 2004 ALCS vs the Yankees? The huge hits he had throughout the post-season, as we won our first championship in 86 years. And what about the season he had in 2007, which ended in another World Series title.
Maybe we need to relax, smack the writers around and banish any story or headline that mentions “Ortiz” and “Slumping” in it. Let’s back off and let him breathe, take a few moments and relax. You never know it just might do wonders for him and help him regain the confidence.
Finally if we can do #4 for Ortiz and lighten up people on the man, then maybe #6 will happen naturally. Ortiz himself can relax and let his mind calm down since in his own words “My body is resting every night,” Ortiz said this weekend, “but my mind is spinning with all of this [stuff]. It’s hard to sleep.
We allow his mind to relax, he’ll then realize that he doesn’t need to carry the burden of this offense alone. He has people like Bay, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew to help pick it up when he’s slumping at times. Not to mention Mike Lowell and Jacoby Ellsbury with the seasons their both having at the moment.
He needs to know that he’s allowed a day off here and there (especially with interleague play coming up) and it’s fine. The world won’t end and people won’t be running wild with all these ridiculous rumors about what’s happening. For the first time since he arrived in Boston, he’ll have a few days off at the All-Star break to do all those things. A few days to sit back, clear his head and realize it’s a team game. You win and you lose as a team, not as individuals.
Big Papi will be fine, a month from now as the All-Star Game nears closer, and he’s back in his groove. This will hopefully all be a distant memory, a silly thing to to talk about (years from now). So it’s time we lay off the man people, he’s helped capture two World Series titles for us, the city of Boston, and all our fans around the world. This isn’t a career ending point for Big Papi, it’s only a slump for crying out loud!