Ortiz: "See How Much I Poured?"

WEEI.com: “What I said the other day is totally true. This is my 14th spring training and nobody talked to me about my numbers in spring training before,” said Ortiz after his Red Sox’ dropped an 8-4 decision to the Orioles, at City of Palms Park, “so I can’t believe you guys are kind of getting encouraged into (doing) that.”

“Oh, you guys are going to see some results,” Ortiz insisted, “believe me.”

Wait....Back up the truck.....all of a sudden Mike Lowell is disposable again.....Ortiz hit a tater and a single during a Spring Training game today.....All is right in the world.

The 34 year old slugger went 2 for 2 today....he's back!....forget about his 1 for 21 start this spring.....for the moment, feels as though he's cured the overall concern that he'll once again fall off a cliff for months at a time this season.

I can't deny my love for Ortiz....I was the biggest proponent of the "Trick question, Ortiz is god" saying back in 2003 and 2004. He helped Boston to two championship rings and contributed to many foggy nights for myself after celebrating Ortiz classic walk offs. He smashed the Red Sox single season home run record....he's a teddy bear goof ball with a smile on his face....how could you not love this guy?

But a lot has changed since the good old days. He'd like us to forget about his positive PED's test, the fact that he couldn't hit T Murph's weight over the first few months of 2009, and despite turning it on after June, he couldn't manage to get his average past his own weight by season end.

Like I said, I love Ortiz, I swear I do (by now I'm sure you're asking yourself if I'm doing some self-convincing with this post or not...), I'm just skeptical of the real value he's going to bring to the team in 2010. I hope he proves me, and everyone else wrong, but we've been burned by the recent past (in both fantasy and reality baseball.....yes, both are significant to me), and we can't bank on Ortiz-like production in 2010.

As a result of being a fan.....and being concerned....I'll be watching his ABs closely this weekend in Ft Myers. I've heard everything from slow bat speed to mechanical problems with his swing....either way I'll try not to freak out in the stands when he K's three times on Friday.

Nostra Culpa

The Murphy boys would not be surprised if we are on the 2003 list. We're not saying we used steroids. We're not saying we didn't. We're just saying we would not be surprised if we are on the 2003 list. It's deadline day and it's always good to ride the waive of a big news cycle, so we're just putting it out there.

In our defense, those were wild times. Like Bronson Arroyo said today (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4368436), "before 2004, none of us paid any attention to anything we took." Arroyo said he was taking andro, but heard at some point that it might be laced with steroids due to lax production standards. All he knew for sure was that, "andro made me feel great, I felt like a monster, I felt like I could jump and hit my head on the basketball rim."

Same goes for any number of other products. Doritos, milk, commercial-grade syringes. We just can't say. We weren't paying attention and there were lax production standards back then. Those freeze-pop things that stained your lips purple? We can't say for sure whether those were laced with Mexican Meth or not. All we can say is they made us feel like we could hit our heads on basketball rims. And that's what mattered back then.

And you've got to remember, everyone was doing it. It wasn't just David Ortiz, Bronson Arroyo, then-Presidential candidate John Kerry, and the Murphy boys. It wasn't even just Massachusetts. We used to visit the Shaker Heights Murphys every 4th of July and they were doing some crazy freeze-pops, too. There is absolutely no way to know what was in those things. So we're just saying, we would not be surprised if this has something to do the with the Catholic priest scandal that was going on back then. Production standards were extremely, extremely lax. Nothing would surprise us.

The Talk of the Town for all the Wrong Reasons

Back in 2004, David Ortiz was the most popular professional sports player in Boston. Tom Brady was looking up at this guy on the list of fan favorites.....what a difference 4 or 5 years can make.

For those of you outside of the Boston area (and we know there are a some of you reading this), know and understand that the David Ortiz question is on every one's mind and tongue...and with Tony Mazz's article today, the city is on edge in regards to its number three hitter. Patience is growing thin, and the assumption that Ortiz is just in a "slump" is starting to mold into thoughts we're all dreading to hear, that Big Papi is no more.

It's currently 1:30pm, I've heard or read about questions about Ortiz in the paper, from the ITMGal, on the radio, at the gym....and I'm pretty sure if I had made it to Chinatown I would have heard it there too. A healthy amount of skepticism is necessary, but it is bordering on insanity in this city. Some people want him benched, others want him moved to the number 8 spot in the lineup....and now Tito is facing some serious questions and decisions: "I guess I’d always consider doing what’s in our team’s best interest,’’ Francona said when asked if he considered it a viable option to move Ortiz down in the lineup. "I think it does more harm than good. We’ve had pretty much a set lineup [in recent years]. Three days ago, when we were winning 11 out of 12, nobody was asking that. I don’t know that it’s the best thing to do.’’ Good point Tito, but I'm not sure the majority of people are in agreement.

Of course the steriods question is flooding into all of our minds. Let's be honest, everyone is a question mark and just because he is a Boston player, he should be no different. He's gone from smashing 54 homeruns, to sitting on a goose egg after a full month of baseball. Sure his 54 homeruns was in 2006, technically after the "steroid era", but there is still no real test for HGH. I'm not accusing him of anything, but I'm just saying we've got to at least consider it an option.....and don't get me started on the age question....both questions we may never know the true answer to, but we still need to ask it.

Perhaps he'll come out and hit a tater tonight, the Sox will win a few games in a row, and these concerning conversations will fade away.....but Big Papi has yet to give us any reason to believe. Entirely different from 2004.