I don't care, I despise the guy. Plus, take Manny out from behind him, and I bet he isn't so tough. He wasn't all that wonderful in Minnesota.
Come on Boston hater or not this guy is the real deal.As a sports fan and fierce competitor Big Papi is getting it done.
Like I said, without Manny, I don't believe Ortiz is half as good as he is now. Any day of the week I'd take Manny over Ortiz on my team. Yes, I hate Boston, but I don't despise Manny. I despise Ortiz.
Despise him all you want, he's the best pure hitter in the AL and the best clutch hitter in baseball.
Hey Devil, honestly, as a Boston fan, do you not believe without Manny hitting behind him, Ortiz wouldn't hit as well. Serious question. Sure, the guy can hit the ball a ton, but my opinion has always been, he sees better pitches because of Manny. In all honesty, I would rather pitch to Ortiz than Manny, in any inning.
I do think he would be that good. Look at Bonds. He had no protection and managed to do it. His walks would go WAY up, but he'd still do what he does now and make pitchers pay for their mistakes. There are no holes in the guy's swing, it's very, VERY hard to get him out.
As much as I hate Boston I have to admit that Ortiz is a helluva player. Why did you trade him Minnesota?
Hmmm, wonder why? Let's see, what were his numbers? G 455 AB 1477 R 215 H 393 2B 108 3B 3 HR 58 RBI 238 BB 186 SO 339 6 years, a WHOPPING 58 homers! That's less than 10 a year. His most was his final year there when he hit a smoking TWENTY. 238 RBI in almost 1500 ABs. Yeah, those are GREAT numbers. Can't imagine why Minny wouldn't hang on to a talent like that! So who still thinks Manny doesn't make Ortiz better?
Agreed. While we're on the subject of that last at bat, it helped to show again why the ESPN "K-Zone" is a stupid, stupid idea. The whole point of the strike zone is that it's 3 dimensional and that it matters whether the ball passes through it. So showing where the ball ends up is totally useless. What got me thinking about that was the second pitch of the AB, a fastball that was a little low and away. The ESPN announcers were talking about the pitcher like he had totally lost the zone because it was way outside their little box, where if they had looked at a traditional overhead and side angle they would've seen that it was a pretty good pitch--off the zone, but a nice pitch. Just my latest little ESPN rant.
Well that's just stupid. I don't like him, but I would never throw inside to him. Low and away is the only way to pitch to him. You're better off making him extend and taking the chance with that than throwing it anywhere he can turn on it. I despise the guy, but I ain't stupid.
what does this have to do with him constantly coming through in the clutch??? Something A Rod is unable to do, but his 48 HR's a year when the Yanks are up by 8 or down by 8 are definnitely MVP material
I disagree, he's most dangerous when he can extend his arms--he has power to all sides of the field, he just tends to pull the ball because pitchers try to hammer him inside. The bottom line is that he is a dangerous hitter wherever you pitch him, and your only real hope is to mix speeds and try to catch him off guard. As for Manny making him better, of course Manny makes him better. Hitting between A-Rod and Damon makes Jeter much better, does that make him a bad player?
455 games is about 2.8 full years, and he averaged 20.7 HR/162 games for Minnesota, not exactly terrible for a young player. He played sparingly, in a terrible lineup, and he was 20-26 years old, not exactly a matured hitter. He also broke his hammate bone in his wrist one year and said it took a full year after surgery to fully recover. He also used to have a huge hole in his swing up and in, a hole that has since closed as he matured as a hitter.
Just a late night thought how come no accusations of Big Papi being juiced after all he basically did nothing in Minnesota.
