The Joy of Sox Movie

As every member of Red Sox Nation knows, beloved slugger David Ortiz is mired in the longest slump of his career. Until last Wednesday night, he had gone almost 150 at bats without hitting a single home run. His blast that night was his first homer of the year, and triggered a huge round of cheers from the fan. That moment probably would have generated the highest RNG computer ratings at Fenway in a long time.


The question is, what’s wrong? There are several main theories being bounced around, and I’d like to present them here, and then see what you folks think. In no particular order, the possible explanations are:

1. Age – Ortiz is nearly 33, an age at which many other sluggers have seen their skills disappear, sometimes almost overnight (ie, Jim Rice). It’s possible that Ortiz is already in the twilight of his career, short and explosive though it was during his heyday from mid-’03 through mid-‘08.

2. Injuries – he missed a lot of last season with a wrist injury after being hit by a pitch, and when he returned to finish out the year, his power never came back to previous levels, though his batting average was still pretty decent. Maybe his resilience is gone, and his power will never return. If that’s true, he might recover to become a decent, but no longer feared, hitter.

3. The “S” word – other players have seen their performance dramatically deteriorate after the off season, often when mandatory testing for steroids begins. It’s hard to imagine, but it’s not impossible that Papi is in the same boat as Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and his ex-teammate Manny Ramirez. Difficult to contemplate, but it has to be included in what doctors call the differential diagnosis, the possible causes of his symptom of poor batting performance

4. Emotions – David is certainly in a funk these days. The former life of the party is now actually declining reporters’ requests for post-game interviews. Obviously some of that moodiness comes in response to his slump, but there have been hints that outside events might also be weighing on him. We’ve seen how family matters can weigh on players minds (and bodies) in recent years – Jason Varitek’s divorce and J.D.Drew’s son’s health problems come to mind – so maybe there’s something else going on that we don’t even know about. Whatever the sourcee, emotional distress can certainly ruin anyone’s hand/eye coordination.

5. Fan mojo – is it possible that the fans of RSN aren’t boosting him effectively anymore? If our cheers are coming from an attitude of desperation or pity, they won’t have the same coherence and impact as if they came from the state of excitement and enthusiasm. If we amp it up, will he respond?

6. Something else - What other factor(s) did I leave out? Let me know.

So those are the main possibilities that I’ve heard about. I tend to go with #4 (after all, I’m a psychiatrist), with a little bit of #5 thrown in (after all, fan mojo is the theme of this whole website). Apparently a quick visit from Ortiz’s father (ie, Papi’s papa) helped him the day before he hit his first home run. Dad advised David to “go out there and have fun”. They played with David’s son, and “it was loose at home”. Maybe that’s all it took, reconnecting with what he loves, at home and at the ballpark.

VOTE: So what do you think? Cast your vote (one vote per reader, please) in the comments section, give us your reasons why, and then suggest your solutions (if there are any). We’ll tally up the votes, hanging chads and all, and report back with the results.