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The ten greatest moments of David Ortiz’s Red Sox career

By Daniel Fox

BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 6: David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates at home plate after he hit career home run #497 during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park on September 6, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 6: David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates at home plate after he hit career home run #497 during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park on September 6, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images) /
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BOSTON – OCTOBER 8: First baseman David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox takes a swing during the American League Division Series with the Anaheim Angels, Game 3 on October 8, 2004 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
BOSTON – OCTOBER 8: First baseman David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox takes a swing during the American League Division Series with the Anaheim Angels, Game 3 on October 8, 2004 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

The situation: 2004 ALDS Game 3, Red Sox lead series 2-0

The moment: Ortiz’s tenth-inning home run sends the Red Sox to the ALCS

The Red Sox went into the 2004 ALDS with every expectation of steamrolling the Angels. The team had caught fire in August, going on a 20-2 run and running away with the AL Wild Card. That stretch included a three-game sweep against these same Angels in which the Red Sox scored a combined 26 runs.

Though the division-winning Angels were an excellent team in their own right, every expectation was that the Red Sox would once against meet the Yankees in the ALCS.

Sure enough, the Red Sox won the first two games in Anaheim, jumping all over ace Jarrod Washburn in Game One and mounting a comeback against Bartolo Colon in Game Two.

The scene shifted to Fenway Park in Game Three, but the result remained unchanged. Boston scored two runs in the third and three runs in the fourth and headed into the seventh with a seemingly insurmountable 6-1 lead.

It took just one inning for it all to fall apart. Three walks and a single forced in a run and brought AL MVP Vladamir Guerrero to the plate representing the tying run. The future Hall of Famer sent one into the right-field bullpen, tying the score at six and silencing the Fenway crowd.

The Red Sox were reeling and went into extra innings with the score still knotted at six.
Though Ortiz established himself as a major league regular in the 2003 season, it was in 2004 where he truly became a feared slugger.

He slashed .301/.380/.603 and finished second in both home runs (41) and RBI (139). Red Sox fans had learned to trust Ortiz with the game on the line, and they knew that any late-inning swing Big Papi took could be the one that made the difference.

Ortiz would take that swing in the bottom of the tenth. With a runner on second and two down, he sent a curveball from Washburn over the Green Monster to send the Red Sox to the ALCS. It was the first clutch home run of Big Papi’s postseason career, but it would not be nearly the last.

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