Friday, October 28, 2005
Ortiz knew '05 edition was lacking
October 27, 2005
HOUSTON -- Major League Baseball named a 12-member Latino Legends team last night, though the team's slugging left fielder, Manny Ramirez, was not in attendance. Still, Ramirez was a topic of discussion, for both Pedro Martinez, a pitcher on the Legends team, and David Ortiz, who did not make the team but attended Game 4 of the World Series to receive the Hank Aaron Award, presented to the best all-around hitter in each league.
Martinez, who has three seasons remaining on his contract with the Mets, said he visited Boston recently and was surprised to see that the ''papers said I was manipulating Manny" into requesting a trade to Queens.
''Manny's a strong man," Martinez said.
Ramirez had a meeting scheduled for yesterday in South Florida with his agent, Greg Genske, and Red Sox owner John W. Henry, though that get-together was postponed when Hurricane Wilma tore through Fort Lauderdale, where Ramirez lives.
''I don't know what [Ramirez's] idea is right now," said Ortiz, standing in a Minute Maid Park hallway next to fellow Hank Aaron Award winner Andruw Jones of the Braves.
''I'll tell you what, if you're going to let a guy like Manny go, you better bring someone in like this."
He motioned to Jones, who led the majors with 51 homers this season. Henry, though, wasn't convinced as of late last week that Ramirez wants out of town.
''We do this every six months or so -- certainly every winter," Henry said, intimating that the mere fact that the sides are meeting isn't unusual.
Ortiz, meanwhile, seems to have moved past the initial sting of being swept out of the postseason by the White Sox. He knew early on in the season, he said, that the 2005 Red Sox weren't as well constructed as the 2003 and 2004 editions.
''Tell you the truth," he said, ''in 2003, when we almost got to the World Series, it was tough. That year it hurt more than this year, not because we won the World Series the year before, but because we had a better team in 2003. At the very beginning of [this] season you could see our team doesn't have the consistency that we need to win the World Series.
''Last year we struggled in the playoffs but we bounced back. We had the team. But this year it was up and down. We knew that the way we played we were a little surprised being in the playoffs. After that, come the playoffs, we played the team that played the best all year round."
Ortiz worried all season about the team's pitching, and come the end of the year, the club's shortcoming, he said, ''was pretty much that."
And, he said, when the time came to play small ball, the Red Sox couldn't do it.
''When you need a guy to move a runner over, they're not used to it," he said. ''It's not their fault. It's not their game."
Source: http://www.boston.com/
HOUSTON -- Major League Baseball named a 12-member Latino Legends team last night, though the team's slugging left fielder, Manny Ramirez, was not in attendance. Still, Ramirez was a topic of discussion, for both Pedro Martinez, a pitcher on the Legends team, and David Ortiz, who did not make the team but attended Game 4 of the World Series to receive the Hank Aaron Award, presented to the best all-around hitter in each league.
Martinez, who has three seasons remaining on his contract with the Mets, said he visited Boston recently and was surprised to see that the ''papers said I was manipulating Manny" into requesting a trade to Queens.
''Manny's a strong man," Martinez said.
Ramirez had a meeting scheduled for yesterday in South Florida with his agent, Greg Genske, and Red Sox owner John W. Henry, though that get-together was postponed when Hurricane Wilma tore through Fort Lauderdale, where Ramirez lives.
''I don't know what [Ramirez's] idea is right now," said Ortiz, standing in a Minute Maid Park hallway next to fellow Hank Aaron Award winner Andruw Jones of the Braves.
''I'll tell you what, if you're going to let a guy like Manny go, you better bring someone in like this."
He motioned to Jones, who led the majors with 51 homers this season. Henry, though, wasn't convinced as of late last week that Ramirez wants out of town.
''We do this every six months or so -- certainly every winter," Henry said, intimating that the mere fact that the sides are meeting isn't unusual.
Ortiz, meanwhile, seems to have moved past the initial sting of being swept out of the postseason by the White Sox. He knew early on in the season, he said, that the 2005 Red Sox weren't as well constructed as the 2003 and 2004 editions.
''Tell you the truth," he said, ''in 2003, when we almost got to the World Series, it was tough. That year it hurt more than this year, not because we won the World Series the year before, but because we had a better team in 2003. At the very beginning of [this] season you could see our team doesn't have the consistency that we need to win the World Series.
''Last year we struggled in the playoffs but we bounced back. We had the team. But this year it was up and down. We knew that the way we played we were a little surprised being in the playoffs. After that, come the playoffs, we played the team that played the best all year round."
Ortiz worried all season about the team's pitching, and come the end of the year, the club's shortcoming, he said, ''was pretty much that."
And, he said, when the time came to play small ball, the Red Sox couldn't do it.
''When you need a guy to move a runner over, they're not used to it," he said. ''It's not their fault. It's not their game."
Source: http://www.boston.com/
