Ortiz is cleaning up his act
CHICAGO -- It's hard enough trying to hit a 5-ounce sphere hurtling toward the plate at 90-something miles an hour. For David Ortiz, it's even harder trying to do it batting fourth in the Red Sox lineup, although he didn't have much trouble last night.
"Things have changed since I started hitting fourth," said Ortiz, who entered last night batting .231 (12 for 52) in the 14 games since Aug. 7, when the Sox shifted him from third in the order. "What people don't notice is that they're more careful pitching to me now than when I was hitting third.
"They don't give a [care] about walking me. When I'm hitting third, they want to go through me."
Chicago didn't have much success going through him last night. Ortiz, whose average had dropped to .301 from .310, was 2 for 3 and snapped an 0-for-17 skid when he laced a one-out RBI double in the first inning off White Sox starter Freddy Garcia. He put the Sox ahead, 6-5, when he blasted a shot to right off Damaso Marte after Manny Ramirez tied the game with a shot off Garcia in the eighth inning.
Manager Terry Francona acknowledged Ortiz would rather bat third, but the Sox made the switch to help Ramirez and are pleased with the results in that respect. Ramirez, who knocked in 10 runs over the first two games of the weekend series against the White Sox, drove in two more last night.
Despite his preference for batting third, Ortiz has not publicly complained. When he was asked about the matter, he spoke in a soft, measured tone, expressed no bitterness, and insisted things would work out for the best. He also endured an 0-for-19 slump in early July, yet entered last night ranked among the league leaders in home runs (30), RBIs (105), slugging percentage (.597), extra-base hits (70), and batting with runners in scoring position (.336).
Ortiz also noted that his recent slump coincided with his return from serving a five-game suspension for a tirade July 16 against the umpires in Anaheim, Calif. The Sox moved him into the cleanup spot when he returned from the suspension.
"After the suspension, my swings haven't been the same," he said. "But it will be all right."
Lefty's all right
By the time Alan Embree pitched in his fourth straight game, two of which he played key roles in losing July 31 and Aug. 1 to the Twins, he knew he was in trouble.
"I just didn't have the finishing stuff that I had before," he said. "I knew I was tired."
The Sox used Embree only three times after that stretch, with little success. He allowed two runs on four hits over 1 2/3 innings and the Sox lost all three games in which he appeared. Then they shut him down after a 5-4 loss to Chicago Aug. 15.
"It was something we probably should have done a lot sooner," Embree said, "but we were in a situation where we couldn't do it."
Last night, he declared himself well enough to pitch again. He described his physical woes as a "dead arm." This has marked the first time in the last four seasons that Embree has not required a stint on the disabled list.
"It's amazing what a couple of days of not touching a baseball can do for you at this point of the season," he said.
Still, Francona resisted using Embree last night.
"I'd hate to be patient for a week and then rush into it," Francona said. "I want to be able to go to him and [Mike] Timlin a lot the last month."
The addition of lefthander Mike Myers Aug. 6 mitigated Embree's absence. Myers had retired all six lefthanded batters he had faced for the Sox entering last night and had allowed only one hit in five at-bats against righthanded hitters. But Myers is generally used in a limited situational role, while Embree plays a larger setup role.
Francona said he also has considered using Ramiro Mendoza in more crucial relief situations. Mendoza had retired 11 of the 12 first batters he had faced and opponents are batting .222 (2 for 9) against him with runners in scoring position.
In the latest stop on his journey toward Boston, veteran righthander Pedro Astacio pitched four scoreless innings for Double A Portland in a 4-3 victory yesterday over Trenton, the Yankees' affiliate. Astacio, 34, who signed a minor league deal with the Sox June 30, allowed three hits and a walk and hit a batter in his longest outing since he returned from shoulder surgery. He previously pitched 4 2/3 innings over two appearances without allowing an earned run for the rookie team in the Gulf Coast League.
"He looks like he's on the road to being an effective big league pitcher again," said general manager Theo Epstein, who traveled to Portland for the game.
Astacio, who has gone 118-109 with a 4.58 ERA over 12 seasons with the Dodgers, Rockies, Astros, and Mets, is expected to provide late insurance for the Sox starting rotation and perhaps a long arm in the bullpen.
"He might be able to help our staff," Francona said.
Astacio is scheduled to make his final two starts of the minor league season with Triple A Pawtucket. Astacio was followed to the mound in Portland by Rule V lefty Lenny DiNardo, who has been rehabbing a finger blister since early July. DiNardo worked the fifth and sixth innings, surrendering four hits, including a three-run homer by Mitch Jones, who ranks second in the Eastern League with 36 homers.
At the hot corner
Before Dale Sveum waves another Sox runner into an out at home plate -- and he is the first to acknowledge that will happen again -- it's time to let him set the record straight about the play that transformed Sveum from an anonymous uniform to an object of ridicule in some circles, on a par with Wendell Kim.
The anti-Sveum movement holds no currency in the Sox clubhouse nor in the offices on Yawkey Way. In both places, he is regarded as a valued asset who prepares meticulously for each game.
But from the outside, Sveum has made a series of awful miscalculations when deciding whether a Sox runner can arrive safely home. On a couple of those decisions, the Sox brass share the fans' pain: the one two weeks ago at Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field when Sveum waved Dave Roberts into a waiting tag at the plate with no outs in the ninth, and the one last Wednesday when Sveum tried to score Bill Mueller on Earl Snyder's base hit, which also had an unhappy outcome.
Sveum yesterday acknowledged he made a mistake with Roberts, who was thrown out by Devil Rays center fielder Rocco Baldelli, when he would have been the tying run in a one-run loss.
"I don't take back what I said," Sveum said here yesterday before last night's game against Chicago, one in which the four runners he sent home in the first two innings scored easily. "I wouldn't do it differently if I know that the guy would get a great jump on that ball, because he won't get thrown out on that ball."
The mistake, Sveum said, was his failure to realize that Roberts had hesitated on the play and didn't get a good jump.
"That was my fault for not seeing he didn't get the jump I thought he got. I guess he thought that someone was going to catch the ball. If he doesn't hold his ground, he scores. That was my fault for not seeing he didn't get the jump. If he doesn't hold, my instincts were right, he would have scored on that ball.
"I probably spoke too quickly, before I'd seen the replay. Obviously, that was the one that snowballed everything else."
Appealing idea
The countdown continued to Jason Varitek dropping the appeal of his four-game suspension for his role in the July 24 brawl with the Yankees. Varitek said he needed another day to sort things outbefore he announces when he will withdraw the appeal. He is expected to begin serving the suspension no later than tomorrow. By waiting until tomorrow, he would be able to catch Pedro Martinez tonight in Toronto and return to catch Martinez again Saturday at Fenway Park against the Tigers . . . Francona said the Sox are not concerned that Bronson Arroyo, who pitched between 150 and 170 innings each of the previous five seasons, may be approaching the heaviest workload of his pro career. Arroyo, who has pitched 134 1/3 innings this season, struggled Saturday in a 10-7 victory over the White Sox, but Francona said he saw no reason to start limiting the length of Arroyo's starts . . . Pokey Reese swung lightly in the cage for the second time since he strained his right oblique, but Francona said he does not expect Reese to return until next month. Same for Kevin Youkilis, who is rehabbing his bruised right ankle bone in Fort Myers, Fla. "He e-mailed me and said he's sweating his [butt] off and he's miserable," Francona said. "That was one of the funnier e-mails I've had." . . . David McCarty swung for the first time since he went on the disabled list retroactive to Aug. 13 with a Ganglion cyst in his right wrist.
Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
