Dan turned in a strong article yesterday on Bruce Hurst and a mostly strong article today on Price. The Hurst article was an enjoyable puff piece and the Price article was much more enjoyable than I expected. I thought I'd be reading crying about the money along the lines of Mike Felger on last night's CSNNE show.
The CHB used a nice little turn of phrase when discussing Ortiz and Price being on the same team: "It will be fun watching Price and Ortiz attempt to remove themselves from this big bowl of awkward."
I think that's overstated in that two competitors who want to win will likely be able to get past this very quickly, but I still liked the "big bowl of awkward" usage. Yeah, it's kind of a cliche, but it fit nicely.
But Dan being Dan, he had to eventually take a dump in our mouths.
Price is a different cat. He is not like Manny, Foulke, or Pablo Sandoval. He is sensitive. He made himself an enemy of Red Sox Nation when he rightfully called out David Ortiz for pimping home runs in 2014. He said Ortiz thinks he is “bigger than the game.’’ Big Papi, in turn, said he had “no respect” for Price and called Price a “little girl.’’
There was nothing "rightful" about that. It stemmed from when Ortiz hit two homers off Price in Game 2 of the 2013 ALDS. One was down the right field line and Ortiz waited for the homer call before slowly running around the bases. The other was a blast and Ortiz also slowly rounded the bases, as he always does.
Price chose in the post-game press conference to deflect his own crap performance with an attack on David. Ortiz is an easy mark as his slow trot does grate on some purists and opposing fans, but it was more than understandable that Ortiz would pause before running when the ball might have been ruled foul. And the trot is what it is, and there was nothing special or different that night as compared to every other homer David hit that year except for him waiting on the umpire's call.
Make no mistake, Dan going to the Ortiz-Price angle was fair game. It almost wrote itself. That these two former combatants will be on the same team is interesting and worth discussing, regardless of how awkward the problem actually is. Price did throw in early 2014 at Ortiz after they had supposedly made up in the off season. That was kind of weird because I think most people thought it was over, and it was several months later. At minimum, there will be a conversation to clear the air, and that itself is worth mentioning.
But Dan did not need to use this legitimate aspect of the story to further his agenda about "pimping" and David being "rightfully" called out. And yes, as a columnist, he's entitled to his opinion. I just think that there's a good chance that his opinion is based on the butt hurt he must feel at David's consistent razzing of him.
