I was about to put my girls to bed, but turned this on when I saw he was coming up. We all watched -- he absolutely crushed that ball. Great, great moment.
Ortiz 500 career homers this year?
- Thread starter budcrew08
- Start date
Seriously. Take a look at the all-time HR list and look at how high he might climb with another good year (or two). It's conceivable he passes Murray and maybe even Sheffield this year the way he's going.Andrew said:
Dammit. Happy for Papi but was going tomorrow and hoping to see it tomorrow. Oh well, thrilled that he got it.
I was at the library this afternoon (in NYC) and saw Four Days in October on the DVD shelf. And now tonight, all these years after 2004, Big Papi is still hitting HRs. What an amazing player!
79 from the Ted's Red Sox all time record. Maybe 75 by season's end. He'd need to duplicate the last 2 seasons, plus hit a few extra. However unlikely, that would be amazing.
brs3 said:
It's going to be really hard, but he has a legitimate chance to do it.
A few more this year, and two more good years. It's fucked to be talking about two more good years from a guy who is already 39, and he could certainly fall off a cliff at any moment, but damn, if he doesn't fall off a cliff, he could do this.
Reposting here... Pedro's awesome congratulatory tweet:
https://twitter.com/45PedroMartinez/status/642849250284433408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Now I gotta go learn Spanish...
EDIT: You wanna hit "Play" in that oversized black box. Trust me.
https://twitter.com/45PedroMartinez/status/642849250284433408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Now I gotta go learn Spanish...
EDIT: You wanna hit "Play" in that oversized black box. Trust me.
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/642873390303440897
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/642873390303440897
link to tweet
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/642873390303440897
link to tweet
https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/642853840996442112
https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/642853840996442112
link to tweet
https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/642853840996442112
link to tweet
Big thanks to Pedro Martinez for convincing the Sox and Theo to sign David. His success in WS with the Sox matched only by the greatest of all time.
Devizier said:
The best is clearly the guy taking a victory lap in April of 09 for being the first to say Ortiz was going into steep decline after 2007.
Granted, a lot of people were doing so, and more after his terrible (for him) 2009 season.
smastroyin said:
It's already been said multiple times in other threads too, but his resurgence after 2009 has been remarkable. I suppose the 2010 bounce back by itself isn't that surprising as several sluggers will show some decline and then perhaps have a bounce back season or two, but Papi's comeback has lasted 6 seasons now.
More Pedro
https://twitter.com/45pedromartinez/status/642898552918642688
https://twitter.com/45pedromartinez/status/642898552918642688
link to tweet
https://twitter.com/45pedromartinez/status/642898552918642688
https://twitter.com/45pedromartinez/status/642898552918642688
link to tweet
I enjoyed the clip they showed of his first ever homer as a Twin back in 1997. Wow, he was slimmer back then. I'll have to find some Minnesota news online to see what they say about the event and their worst deal ever. Congrats Big Papi. Glad that I was able to watch most of his games as a Sox
TFisNEXT said:
What always seems to get overlooked when it comes to his supposed decline in 2008-2009 was the wrist injury he suffered in June 2008. It really sapped him power-wise in the second half and the struggle carried over into and arguably through 2009 as well. Even if it wasn't simply the strength in the wrist that was the issue, he clearly was making adjustments to compensate for it, to his detriment (really evidenced in his struggles against LHP then). By 2010, the wrist was more or less back to "normal" and he was Big Papi once again. His entire run with the Sox has been remarkable.
Tyrone Biggums said:
Actually ..for the Trop ....it wasn't bad ..Iv'e seen nights when there are no more than 4k in the joint.
So awesome. What a great hitter. When he fully unloads on a ball it looks like its going to the next area code.
Every call (from NESN/WEEI, Red Sox Spanish broadcast) to the rays broadcasts
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/11493214/v476091783/must-c-classic-ortiz-crushes-his-500th-career-homer/?query=must%2Bc
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/11493214/v476091783/must-c-classic-ortiz-crushes-his-500th-career-homer/?query=must%2Bc
This was never, ever the case. His issue was staying healthy. Their lack of power from 1B was in the form of Mientkiewicz.Return of the Dewey said:
Ortiz had a .532 SLG in the minors, and had ISOs above .200 in his final two years with the Twins. The "knock" on him was that he was a LHH and the Twins opted to go with the RHH Matt Lecroy as the primary DH, as they also had LHH Morneau waiting in the wings.
It was just a bad baseball decision and a lesson on why you don't clear out perceived logjams until they actually become a problem; the Red Sox, thankfully, did not see the same issue with Mueller/Shea/Millar/Giambi/Ortiz.
Red(s)HawksFan said:
I do recall some talk about the wrist injury even in 2009...especially when he wasn't "Big Papi" when he returned in 2008. But to be fair, often the decline of a player can be triggered by an injury and then an inability to stay healthy or just keep declining to a point where they never return to their pre-injury form. But, you are right that it often gets overlooked in the whole context of his career, perceived fork in his back, and then subsequent resurgence.
One of Papi's most desirable traits has been his ability to stay healthy late in his career. Really only the achilles injury in 2012 in the past 6 seasons. Obviously being a DH helps, but even taking that into account, it's impressive.
Andrew said:
It's really more about having the DH position freed up. Honestly I don't want to see him fall off that cliff and I wan't him to go out guns blazing so to speak, but I love David Ortiz unconditionally and it will be a travesty to not have him on this team at some point.
As far as Papi as the best "player" I wasn't considering Pedro in that statement. Pedro is in his own league. I was thinking everyday guys not Pitchers.
Semi-meaningless and arbitrary stat, unless you consider the 86 years of WS drought...
There are 4 players with 500 or more HRs and 3 or more WS victories: Ruth, Mantle, Jackson and Ortiz.
Given what Ortiz meant to every Red Sox WS championship after 1918, during the seasons and in the playoffs (especially the LCS and WS), to me as a Sox fan, he definitely belongs among that group. In terms of doing it every year after only getting a chance at 27 yo (counting stats) and then literally willing the team to victory in the post season too many times to remember (very important to me in general and especially as a Sox fan), he may not be one of the best ball players in many categories (e.g. defense etc.), but in my opinion he is up there with the all time greats and solidly in my top ten of all time.
Glad I stayed home last night to see it.
There are 4 players with 500 or more HRs and 3 or more WS victories: Ruth, Mantle, Jackson and Ortiz.
Given what Ortiz meant to every Red Sox WS championship after 1918, during the seasons and in the playoffs (especially the LCS and WS), to me as a Sox fan, he definitely belongs among that group. In terms of doing it every year after only getting a chance at 27 yo (counting stats) and then literally willing the team to victory in the post season too many times to remember (very important to me in general and especially as a Sox fan), he may not be one of the best ball players in many categories (e.g. defense etc.), but in my opinion he is up there with the all time greats and solidly in my top ten of all time.
Glad I stayed home last night to see it.
Article from Speier on the one thing Grady did right and how it kick-started Ortiz's transformation to Big Papi.
Many here have probably seen it but the article and embedded video I linked below are from a time when David Ortiz had 0 ML HR's and some other young established stars were already in awe of his power.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/23177781/video-minorleague-david-ortiz-impresses-arod-junior-in-1996
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/23177781/video-minorleague-david-ortiz-impresses-arod-junior-in-1996
I remember a broadcast when Ortiz was just coming up with the Twins and I think it was Remy who said he had talked with Twins people and said they expected Ortiz to be their cleanup hitter of the future.Montana Fan said: