ALDS Game 2

Posted by Dave at Saturday, October 06, 2007 1:09 AM
Categories: Red Sox

With everyone wanting to discuss the greatness of David Ortiz as another postseason approached, Terry Francona fielded the familiar questions during his pre-series press conference earlier this week at Fenway Park, delivering what were mostly routine and rehearsed answers regarding the man who's so often played hero for the Red Sox.

Only this time the manager made clear that as mighty as Big Papi has been, at least some of the credit belongs to the man who bats behind him.

"Some of the situations David has been put in because of Manny," Francona said, referring to his oft-enigmatic left fielder.

And tonight Manny Ramirez proved just why.

After the Angels elected to walk Ortiz with a base open and the game tied in the ninth inning, Ramirez stepped to the plate with the winning run in scoring position and validated the decision of every manager who was forced to answer for pitching to Papi in the postseason.

Cleaning out an inside fastball that crossed the plate at his knees, Ramirez crushed Francisco Rodriguez’s 1-0 offering so far beyond the Green Monster that he could stand safely at home plate for three or four seconds before a trip around the bases he knew would end at the middle of a mob of teammates celebrating a 6-3 victory.

“I’m just trying to see the ball and make a good swing with the bat,” he told TBS after the game. “This is the best time ever.”

The answer was another classic case of Manny being Manny, as was the swing, even after an atypical regular season during which the phrase didn't always fit. He played hard throughout, but maybe a signal that he's finally slowing with age, he failed to reach a few usual milestones (finishing shy of 30 homers and 100 runs batted in) before straining an oblique in late summer. He missed a month, returning in late September, and especially since then Ramirez hadn’t been the sort of slugger we’ve come to expect en route to 490 regular season homers, and now 21 more in the playoffs.

Most of his at-bats seemed designed to drive the ball to right field, with home-run cuts often coming up empty, and while he’d reached base in six of the first seven games he’d played since his return, only one of those safeties went for extra bases, and none came close to clearing any fences.

So Mike Scioscia had plenty of reason to pitch around Ortiz — who’s been red hot in these and any playoffs — on top of it all considering Ramirez had only one extra-base hit in seven career at-bats against one of the game's best closers, and anything aside from that gave Los Angeles at least a fighting chance to play on.

But K-Rod was off his target by about 17 inches – aiming outside corner and instead finding the inside edge – and Ramirez didn’t miss the opportunity to send the Sox across the country with a 2-0 series lead.

“It’s hard to let David beat you,” Francona reiterated afterward, “but Manny is such a good hitter he made them pay.”

The missile he sent into the unseasonably warm night put the future hall of famer second all-time in terms of postseason homers, one behind Bernie Williams. It’s a bit of a convoluted honor because there are so many more playoff games staged in the wild card era than there were under the formats of yesteryear, but what can’t be qualified is the consistency with which Ramirez has produced in those postseason situations.

Now with the 2007 ALDS added to the list, he’s homered in three consecutive playoff series, six of his last seven sets, and 13 of the 17 in which he’s appeared. Back in 1999, while he was with the enemy from Cleveland, the savant slugger was taunted by fans at Fenway Park while en route to a 1-for-18 effort over a five-game series — but since arriving with the Red Sox, he’s been nothing but a prime time player when it comes to the postseason.

In his first playoff series with the Sox, he capped a Game 5 comeback with a clutch home run that clinched a win over Oakland. In the next round he accumulated nine hits, and a year later he was named World Series MVP after going 7-for-16.

Overall, he’s 39-for-132 for Boston in the postseason, with eight homers – just one less than Ortiz over the same span – and 25 RBI in 31 games. Over a full season that projects to a .295 average, 42 taters and 131 RBI – against the game’s best pitchers.

So, opposing managers can continue to avoid Ortiz in the late innings. And they most certainly will, not only based on his reputation, but because he’s been the best hitter in baseball not named Matt Holliday over the last month.

However, if they do, they should do so with caution. Because the guy behind him ain’t so bad either, even after all these years.

As Scioscia said, “You've got pick your poison with those guys."

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