Millar makes it big
BALTIMORE -- Make the drive from Baltimore-
It's fitting, really. He was always the welcoming one in the Red Sox clubhouse. He was the one cackling in the corner, slapping someone on the back, or mocking his teammates. So he's at it again, in the Under Armour ad. It's as if he's there to welcome visitors to his new city.
He did just that yesterday, on the field at 4:30 p.m., with his former teammates, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramírez, and Mike Lowell, whom he played with in Florida. They gathered behind the backstop and exchanged smiles and handshakes.
''Man, you know, we miss him a lot around here," Ortiz said, walking back into a remarkably quiet visitors' clubhouse at Camden Yards before last night's game. ''You don't get too many guys like that."
Though the Red Sox had flown to Baltimore Wednesday night, Millar hadn't seen his former mates because the Orioles played Thursday night. Before that, though, Sox manager Terry Francona couldn't help but be aware of his presence: ''I haven't been out. I can hear him."
Millar, as usual, was walking around in a T-shirt of his own creation. This one, which Ortiz said he wanted, featured, in black and orange, the word ''Gansta" followed by an expletive. ''Cowboy Up" graced the back. (And, no, ''Gansta" is not a misspelling. Ortiz explained the pronunciation can be attributed to Ramírez. Ortiz also has a hat, courtesy of Millar, with the same version.)
''It's an exciting time," Millar said before his team's 14-8 loss to the Red Sox. ''The good thing is we played them in spring training, so I got a lot of the hugs and riffraff out of the way. But it's great to see these guys."
From all appearances, Millar has already made his presence felt with the Orioles. He was spotted goofing around with his new teammates, grabbing one for a jocular hand-in-hand walk toward the field. He clearly has not lost his exuberance in the transfer between American League East teams.
And he's found his stroke. Four games into the season, Millar is 5 for 12 with 4 runs scored, and 3 RBIs. Last year in Boston he hit a disappointing .272 with 9 homers and 50 RBIs.
''In this game, everybody has a career year and everybody has a down year," Millar said before going 0 for 1 with a walk. ''I mean, sometimes you're not as good as the career year and sometimes you're not as bad as your down year.
''My job -- last year, obviously, I scuffled a little bit -- is to come out here and prove [wrong] all the doubters that quit on me. It's easy to quit on people when they're not doing good. I don't think you [can] judge what's inside of a person. I worked hard this offseason and came out here and hopefully can turn this thing around."
Meanwhile, the Red Sox may be a significantly less rowdy bunch this season, their tones quieted by Millar's absence, while at the home clubhouse at Camden Yards might be just a bit louder, with just a bit more flair, a bit more fun.
''There's a lot of guys, on the other side, that tell me he's unbelievable," Ortiz said. ''I know. I know." 