BIG PAPI Comes Back Home

As most of you know, the strong Domincan Republic baseball team, including our very own Big Papi, was eliminated from competition in the World Baseball Classic. Too bad for them, but good for Red Sox Nation. Why? We get Big Papi David Ortiz back with us. He said this upon his return...

“I’m back from vacation,” he joked while sipping a cup of carrot juice and trying to explain away the stunningly rapid departure of his Dominican team from the World Baseball Classic.

And when he was asked about playing first base for the DR in the World Baseball Classic, he said this. Here are his words. I'll follow with my comments afterwards...

“I never play first base here anyway. All my focus is on hitting. I’m the kind of guy who sees myself as an employee. I do whatever Tito Francona tells me to do. I don’t tell them what to do. I’m here to do what they tell me to do. The manager didn’t want to force me (to play first in the WBC),” Ortiz said. “He didn’t want anything bad to happen. Actually I was feeling good. It was getting better. I just don’t want to be out there and get to the point that I had to make a decision or dive for the ball or something like that and injure my shoulder and get myself in a worse situation. I was just trying to be careful. When I was hitting, I was fine. It was sometimes when I was playing catch I wasn’t feeling right. When you don’t play a position for a while it’s hard to go play but I decided go ahead. Have fun. Don’t try to overdo things.”

That's all we need is a shoulder injury after all his wrist problems, but it seems that he was saying that at the plate, he's 100%. He is the Red Sox DH, so there won't be much playing the first base bag, except maybe for the hated interleague play stuck in the middle of the regular season. I still don't see why both leagues can't go with the DH. Sure, it's not "pure" baseball, the way it was invented, but it's more exciting for the fan and better for the health of the pitchers. They have their work cut out for them with every start...they do not need any at bats. Welcome back, Big Papi. We need you bigtime for the 2009 season. We really do.

Have a great Friday and a terrific weekend. I'll be back every morning and more if circumstances warrant. Click on the title for the story behind the SIX OVERTIME Big East Tournament men's basketball game between Connecticut and Syracuse. That's right, I said SIX OVERTIMES. The game ended around 1:30am EDT...at that point, I was listening to it on the radio. As always, BE WELL. L'chaim, cheers, skol. See ya.