Tuning it out as tool

DETROIT -- David Ortiz, in the process of changing into workout gear yesterday, leans over and opens a Louis Vuitton shoulder bag that could -- out of earshot of Ortiz -- be called a man purse. While explaining that it's hard for him to pass an Apple store without buying an iPod, he unzips the bag and pulls out a black version, one of five he owns, and scrolls through the hundreds of songs in search of some video.

He doesn't find what he's looking for, which is not replays of any of his at-bats from this season or any other, and settles on a 50 Cent video, a clearly not-for-TV version of ``P.I.M.P." While offering an earbud to a reporter, Ortiz lets the video play and explains why he wouldn't use his iPod -- a device ubiquitous in the Red Sox clubhouse and, for that matter, everywhere else -- to track his hitting.

It's simply too small.

``Not yet. I might," Ortiz said, when asked if he had downloaded any of his at-bats to an iPod. ``I watch my video on the airplane sometimes. The laptop, you've got a better view. You're not going to see here what you want to really see. In a laptop, you slow down your motion and everything. I don't think you'll be able to do that here."

While the Colorado Rockies, according to a story Friday in the Denver Post, have taken to using their iPods to try to find their way out of slumps, downloading seasons of at-bats, the Red Sox surveyed weren't sure how that would play in Boston.

Though Ortiz and Curt Schilling are faithful video viewers on flights, Ortiz said not too many on the team take advantage of the time in the air, with some players rarely taking video out of the clubhouse.

Alex Cora, for one, thinks that might be healthy.

``Personally, I'm a big video guy, always watching video and comparing," said Cora, who borrowed Manny Ramírez's lime green iPod yesterday after recently misplacing his own. ``Playing in LA, it was more laid-back, I had time to concentrate more off the field with baseball -- though the family never liked it. But here, with the press and the whole fan thing, it's a lot. It can take a toll.

``You can do too much. What are you going to do, watch your highlight reel, you can do that. But video stuff can be very, very positive, but it can be very, very negative. You're going to see your bad at-bats over and over again. If you don't make an adjustment, then you're going to go back and see what you're doing wrong, and then you panic."

As he thought more about it -- and discussed his use of video -- Ortiz became less enamored of the idea of turning one of his iPods into a baseball tool. He watches 50 Cent flit across his screen. And frowns.

``You don't want to put video of baseball on here," Ortiz said. ``You need more room, bigger vision to see what you're doing than this. Like you can sit down and watch a video right here, but your at-bat? Watch the pitcher and you, that's kind of a small screen."

So, for now -- despite registering some interest in the concept -- hitting coach Ron Jackson is going to leave the iPods to their primary use: music. Though, he added, many of his players use them for visualization, for relaxation, in the clubhouse, in the batting cage, and even in the dugout.

``It's something to think about for the future, if they come out with a bigger iPod," Jackson said. ``That would be nice. That would be good. Technology has really just taken off. A lot of guys are doing it right now and you'd never know. They may have it downloaded right now. You never know."