Boston Red Sox plotted a heart-touching 40 minute pregame as attribute to David Ortiz on Sunday. It tends to warn the impending end of Big Papi's journey or a renewal of career of what is promised to be one long final playoff run of the iconic slugger and greatest winner in the history of franchise.
The Sox went back to Fenway Park, six days later, though teetering on a cliff. Sox played fast-break baseball for six months, often scoring early and sprinting away from their foes. But due to the lost that they had on the first two games of a best-of-five American League Division Series, the Red Sox lost their popularity, identity, and reputation after winning only one of 18 winnings.
Thus, the Sox prepared to bounce back and to cast their totally one last hope for game 3. Starter, Clay Buchholz, the inconsistent right-hander who was out from the rotation and served almost futile in an unfamiliar bargain role for most of the summer, should deal with another burdensome realm.
For real, it could be Ortiz' swan song on Sunday. Nobody expected that things tend to happen drastically in the playoffs. In September, the Red Sox have won 18 games in a 24-game stretch, including 11 in a row, thus they came out as the favorite to take American League pennant. Yet, its speed began to slow when they coasted through in the season's last five days. Moreover, after a 6-0 dismantling by the Indians in Game 2, basically Dustin Pedroia, the second baseman and de facto captain said that they had lost who they are.
Do not expect Ortiz to go out with a whimper if this is really his last stand. In Game 2, he was mad as ever, railing that the Sox are getting their asses beat and he left the clubhouse without talking to the reporters Saturday. After a close-door meeting and staff holding before Saturday's off-day workout at Fenway, you can be sure he was a prominent and dignified speaker.
Big Papi's words had a considerable weight when he talked, they usually listened to them when they have encountered a trouble like these, he would call his teammates together between winnings of Game 4 of the World Series at St. Louis for the reason that he had sensed that they were tight.
In a World Series atmosphere, it is rare to see people who would tell the whole team to jump on his back, and that is basically what Ortiz did, reminisced Buchholz. For Buchholz, there had been a lot of those moments whom David would do it.
Ortiz was keen who quickly knew a how rapidly a playoff series can turn. In 2007, when Sox rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Indian in the American League Championship Series (ALCS), Ortiz played a major role in winning a four successive games to oust the New York Yankees. That was an epic championship. He had hit the grand slam that changed the course of history in ALCS against the Detroit Tigers in 2013.
A motion of a comeback of Ortiz' legacy could be set, if the Red Sox able to tee off the Indians starter Josh Tomlin on Sunday. At this point, Ortiz needs to win at least one more game.
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