Ortiz's power turned off

HOUSTON -- Yes, there is at least one recorded instance of David Ortiz getting mad and losing his temper.

No, it wasn't during last night's All-Star Home Run Derby, even though the Red Sox slugger, despite the exuberant support of teammate Manny Ramirez, failed to advance past the first round, going deep just three times. Ortiz reacted to that defeat by coaching eventual winner Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles, even bringing his recent experience in a hospital delivery room into play.

"When I was in there with my wife, I saw her going, `Whoo-whoo-whoo,' " Ortiz said, puffing his cheeks in imitation of wife Tiffany's breathing as she pushed their son D'Angelo into the world.

"When Miguel was getting tired, I said, `Hey, whoo-whoo-whoo. Breathe, dude, that's the way to get it back.' "

Ortiz didn't have to wait long to exhale. Tejada hit 15 home runs in the second round -- average distance 432 feet, with a stadium-clearing 497-footer, the night's longest -- and disposed of Houston's Lance Berkman in the final round, hitting five (with five outs to spare) after Berkman hit four.

"Dude, you say he's little?" Ortiz said of fellow Dominican Tejada. "He's not little. He's rock solid. You know what we call him back home? Autobus. The bus. Because any time someone gets on base, he's going to pick you up."

Ortiz was having too much fun last night to get mad. Even if his day started with the discovery that his luggage had never made it here from Boston, apparently, he said, having been mixed up with the bags going to Anaheim, where the Sox open the second half of the season Thursday night.

But Matt Lawton, the All-Star outfielder from Cleveland who played with Ortiz in Minnesota, testified yesterday there was one occasion when Ortiz lost it.

"It happened in a card game, on a plane flight," Lawton said. "It was me, Eddie Guardado, Jacque Jones, Torii Hunter, and David. Some kind of poker. He was just learning to play, and he thought we were cheating. He threw his cards up in the air, grabbed all the money, and left.

"The next day, we told him to keep the money."

Ortiz laughed when Lawton's tale was repeated to him. "Man, I guess they were joking with me," he said. "Jacque hid some cards, and when I put down my cards, he flipped those cards over. I said, `Man, no way!' "

But except for the rare occasion, Lawton said, Ortiz's perpetually sunny demeanor is the real deal.

"He's the best teammate I ever had," Lawton said. "I'm sure the guys in Minnesota still miss him."

Pitch a fit over a lost suitcase? Please.

Ortiz showed up for yesterday's All-Star interview session in a gray three-piece suit straight out of an investment broker's wardrobe. A last-minute acquisition?

"Are you kidding me?" Ortiz roared. "No way you could find clothes for me. When you're this size, everything has to be custom made. All I got was in my garment bag. I wanted to look good tonight [for the All-Star gala], but I may have to hide in my room."

Ortiz enthusiastically replayed his son's birth for someone asking how everything went.

"Saturday, July 10, 3:30 in the afternoon, right before BP," Ortiz said. "Seven pounds, two ounces. A big old boy."

Look like a ballplayer? Another belly laugh. "He looks pretty much right now like a cartoon, believe me," Ortiz said.

Ortiz said he came here intending to have fun. "I'm going to try to win somebody a house," said Ortiz, referring to the derby prize, awarded to eight random entrants who were paired with the contest's finalists, the winner receiving $250,000 toward a new home.

That didn't happen, despite the cheerleading of Ramirez, who at one point called for a timeout and massaged his friend's shoulders at home plate. "Manny's coaching [expletive]," Ortiz said, cackling yet again. "I want him as a teammate, not as coach or manager."

Ramirez had been asked to participate in the derby, but deferred to Ortiz. "The way he swings in BP," Ramirez said, "he always hits the ball out of the park. He's better than me out there."

Not this day, in part because of the erratic deliveries of his regular batting practice pitcher, Ino Guerrero. "Ino got a little nervous," Ortiz said. "He told me, `I won't get nervous.' I said, `Wait till there's 50,000 people there.' "

Ortiz thought he should have been credited with one home run when he hit a ball so high, it struck the retractable roof. No such luck. But that will be quickly forgotten, compared to the experience of being in the company of so many great sluggers, including all the living members of the 500-home run club. Ortiz and the other derby participants formed a gantlet for the likes of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, and Frank Robinson to pass through.

Said Ortiz, "A guy walked through, I'm saying `I can't believe he hit 560. I can't believe he hit 6-something. I can't believe he hit 7-something.' Dude, you know how hard it is to hit a home run?

"I was trying to win, but I already got what I wanted, to see those guys even once in my life. I had a lot of fun, dude."