Ortiz should blame his pitchers for HBP

If David Ortiz is looking for someone to blame for getting hit by a CC Sabathia pitch last night, he should look in his own dugout.

The designated hitter for the Boston Red Sox was irate with the media, blaming coverage of his showy bat tossing and the extensive reporting on his never getting hit by the New York Yankees for Sabathia’s decision to plunk him in the leg. But if he really wants to find the culprit, he should point the finger at Josh Beckett and the rest of the Red Sox pitching staff, who amazingly seem unable to control the ball when it comes to drilling the Yankees.

Sabathia didn’t step up the way his team needed him to in getting the ball to Mariano Rivera with a lead. But Sabathia did stick up for his teammates after Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were both hit by pitches. I was slightly surprised by the timing because I thought that he wouldn’t hit Ortiz with a runner on and only one out. But the fact that CC hit Big Papi regardless shows his moxie and confidence that he could escape the self-induced jam. It also shows that Sabathia is always willing to do exactly what needs to be done, no matter what the cost to him personally.

Ortiz wasn’t hit just because of his bat tossing, as Paul O’ Neill and Al Leiter made clear on the YES broadcast. That might have annoyed the hell out of us fans (and Joe Girardi), but really Ortiz took the hit because someone in the Red Sox lineup had to pay for all the plunked Yankees. It might as well have been Ortiz, who has become Public Enemy #1 here in New York, as shown by the extended standing ovation Sabathia received after drilling Big Papi.

A small victory in an otherwise dreadful week.

Thanks to Googie man via en.Wikipedia for the photo.