The theory that hitting David Ortiz with a pitch might make him uncomfortable has been floating around this town for years?
Better come up with a new plan.
CC Sabathia hit Ortiz with a 97 mph fastball in the fourth inning of the Yankees’ 8-3 loss, becoming the first Yankees pitcher to hit the Red Sox slugger with a pitch, something that was long overdue in the minds of many Yankees fans.
Since Ortiz began tormenting the Yankees in 2003, there has been an idea that he is too comfortable in the batter’s box and drilling him might change that.
Ortiz disproved that theory by getting two hits in the seventh inning, starting and finishing the Red Sox’s seven-run rally.
After the game, Ortiz blamed the media for getting hit. He did not take questions, just issued a brief rant.
“Are you guys waiting for me?” he said. “There will be no questions. It’s going to be just Papi talking, and if you don’t like it just get the [expletive] out of here.
“I just want to thank you guys, not all of you, most of you, for the stat today of me not getting hit by the Yankees. I finally got hit. I hope you mother[expletives] are happy. I’m done.
“You guys like to criticize us when we [expletive] up. Criticize yourselves now.”
The call for a Yankees pitcher to plunk Ortiz has been around since the Joe Torre days yet no one ever did it. The desire for Ortiz to get drilled grew Tuesday night when Ortiz flipped his bat after hitting a home run off Hector Noesi. Ortiz followed that with a home run off A.J. Burnett on Wednesday.
When Josh Beckett hit Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez last night, Sabathia finally gave Yankees fans what they’ve been lusting after. With his first pitch, he planted one on Ortiz’s right side near his belt.
Ortiz smiled and took his time getting to first base.
He would be laughing later in the night.
Sabathia had cruised through the first six innings, but Ortiz led off the seventh with a single up the middle that started an avalanche. He scored when Jed Lowrie tripled to right on a ball Nick Swisher misplayed.
Boston piled on, chasing Sabathia from the game. Ortiz came to bat again in the inning, this time against reliever David Robertson. The DH doubled to deep left-center, scoring both Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis to give the Red Sox a 7-2 lead.
As Ortiz reached second base, he clapped his hands repeatedly, then gave the “claw” sign to the Red Sox dugout that the Rangers popularized last year.
Beckett, who hit three batters on the night, also blamed the media for Ortiz getting hit.
“I’m still trying to figure out if David got hit for something I did or for something ESPN stirred up,” Beckett said.