Saturday, May 15, 2010
Big Papi getting hot?
Two HRs last night is certainly a good sign. If 'Sox are to make up ground in the standings, they need him to provide that big bat. Since Manny left town, via trade, to LA, a lot has fallen on Big Papi's shoulders. Losing Jason Bay coupled with last year's struggles certainly added to this burden. Hopefully, he can sustain this power surge and develop some consistency.
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This blogger has been feeling a lot like Big Papi's bat of late: slow, timing off, sickly. It appears as though both of us have been under the weather, but the two of us are starting to get revitalized again.
ReplyDeleteI was happy to see the Big Bat show up twice in the first game against the Tigers. It's a good sign that Papi is starting kick whatever funk had ailed him the first month of the season. It does not, however, provide a sense of security for the DH spot. Papi does not need to go out there every single AB and hit a home run. This is not what the fans expect. We do want to see him put together a string of solid ABs where he's getting on base and coming through in key situations. I think he's totally starting to come around, but he's got to put up solid ABs against the toughest pitchers in the division. Let's face it, Scherzer came from the National League and he's not used to facing the caliber of hitters that seem to be prevalent in the American League. He was also rocked early in the game by Pedroia's two-run homer and his pitching went decidedly downhill from there. If Papi can replicate his Scherzer feats off tough AL pitchers, we can definitely say without a doubt that Mr. Clutch is back.
Papi's awakening only puts more pressure on Mikey Lowell to have equally strong ABs. Both Ortiz and Lowell are not happy with the platoon DH position, but if both guys have productive ABs that benefit the team, they will probably begin to feel better about things, especially if the Sox move up in the AL East standings. It's got to be terribly hard on Mikey to only get ABs when opposing teams send a southpaw to the hill. Being expected to produce every few days against live pitching does not bode well for one's timing. Francona ought to sit Beltre every now and then and play Mikey in the field. He'd get more ABs and would stay sharp defensively. He's not made of glass and a few games at third won't cripple him. The DH platoon would pay better dividens as a result.