Sunday, June 11, 2006

Learning Curve for The Man

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Yet somehow, some way, people continue to allow David Ortiz to beat them.

In a game that could only be described as plodding, the Red Sox got Big Papi into position in the ninth after Nixon and Crisp reached, watched him fall behind two strikes, battling back with a Carboesque* foul tip of an Otsuka slider. Number 34 then delivered a mind-numbing shot over the Sox bullpen to seal the walkoff, come-from-behind win.

Yastrzemski in 1967 delivered repeatedly to carry the Sox on his back to the pennant. And Ortiz has the duende to rise to the occasion, stand and deliver.

As a fan, or even just an observer of the baseball condition, you wonder how many times one man can come through. Ortiz simply defies analysis.

*For the uninitiated or just YOUNG, in 1975 World Series Game 6, Bernie Carbo meekly fouled off a Rawley Eastwick pitch with two strikes, then delivered a three run homer into the triangle seats to tie the game at 6 in the eighth inning. This set the stage for Carleton Fisk's classic walkoff homerun to extend the series to seven games.

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