David Ortiz is thinking about the power outage he's battling through, and he's not happy about it. The 33-year-old designated hitter says that he "feels fine physically" and that his body isn't the problem.
For Big Papi it's all about the mental aspect of the game, and a 133-at-bat homerless drought that's taken place in the last few weeks since Ortiz settled back into the middle of the order. It's the second-longest homerless drought of Ortiz's career, with the first coming when the DH was still a contact hitter with the Minnesota Twins.
"People don't know. Sometimes they think we just come here to play baseball and that's it. We're human beings like everyone else," Ortiz said. "We have things to worry about. Sometimes, that gets in the way.
"It's hard to have that free, open mind you need to play this game. There's no way you can play this game with a busy mind. No way. No way. Physically I am better than ever. I have no troubles physically. But sometimes this game gets in your head and you kind of get depressed for a minute. It can be for the situation you're dealing with that won't let you focus, and people have no idea about that."
Both Ortiz and the team haven't entertained notions about dropping Ortiz lower in the lineup.
RED SOX 4, ANGELS 3: Jason Varitek doubled and knocked in the go-ahead run for Boston, which trailed through the first eight innings. Justin Masterson pitched effectively through six innings and gave way to Ramon Ramirez and later to Jonathan Papelbon. Ramirez improved to 4-0 this season.
