Ortiz goes to bat for his friend Sosa

ARLINGTON, Texas -- David Ortiz said he never asked Sammy Sosa, friend to friend, whether he used steroids.

"I don't talk about that [with him], I don't have to, you know what I mean?" Ortiz said yesterday before hitting home runs in his first two at-bats last night against Sosa's team, the Texas Rangers. "I never ask questions that I don't have to. I don't even go there. I don't want people to feel uncomfortable around me. Who am I to be asking those kinds of questions?

"I got to give the man credit for everything he has done for the game. The man came at a time, and did what he did, when the game really needed it. People don't seem like they really appreciate it. I don't care what personality he had at the time; he was always nice to me.

"I think they went too hard on him. People were treating him like a criminal. He's not a criminal, man. He's just a baseball player."

There was a time, Sosa said, that he hoped he and Ortiz would be teammates.

"I remember when he used to play for the Minnesota Twins," Sosa said yesterday. "I wanted to get him to Chicago, I was pulling for him to come to [the Cubs], but they went in a different direction.

"I never doubted that he would get to the level that he is now. I'm so happy that each year he is so great."

As popular as Ortiz is in Boston, Sosa was at least as big in Chicago. His bunny hop out of the batter's box when he homered, the tapping of his heart when he returned to the dugout, the sprint to right field, where he saluted fans bowing in homage, all became trademarks of the slugger who rivaled Michael Jordan for the affections of Chicagoans. His 1998 duel with Mark McGwire in the race to eclipse Roger Maris's home run record transfixed a nation.

But as Ortiz's career went into its ascendancy, Sosa's spiraled dramatically downward. From 64 home runs and 160 RBIs in 2001, Sosa's numbers plummeted to 35 HRs and 80 RBIs by 2004, his last season in Chicago, which ended with Sosa vilified by teammates, club officials, and the media for bailing out of the clubhouse long before the final out.

Then came the steroid hearings in March 2005 on Capitol Hill, in which Sosa declared, "To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs." But he was widely ridiculed for asking that questions be translated into Spanish by his attorney. That season, he played for the Baltimore Orioles, who had acquired him in an offseason trade, and he seemed to turn old and slow overnight, batting just .221 with 14 home runs and 45 RBIs.

But after sitting out last season, Sosa, 38, returned to the Rangers, the team with which he'd originally signed as a 16-year-old in 1985, for a modest $500,000 base salary. He had a terrific spring, and Saturday night, he hit his first home run in 17 months and the 589th of his career, off Sox reliever J.C. Romero.

"[Saturday] night was great, very nice," Sosa said. "I was just happy to be up at the right time and get the first one. You gotta do it. And to get an ovation from everybody, that was great. That made me a very happy person."

Ortiz would have preferred Sosa had connected off someone else, of course, but he appreciated the moment nonetheless. "I'm happy for him, man, really happy," Ortiz said. "He needed to come back and show people that he still can play. To me, you can see that he's having fun and he looks great to me, bro.

"That people hate people and love watching you struggle, that's one thing, but nobody proved that he used anything.

"It doesn't matter what people say. People say [Roger] Clemens used steroids, people say Mark McGwire used steroids. People say a whole bunch of players used steroids, but nobody can prove that, you know what I'm saying?

"I haven't really heard people say anything about me, that I used steroids, because I've always been the same guy. People make comments about guys whose bodies changed a lot, and they can see the difference."

Ortiz said Sosa, though he didn't rely on a translator when he was with the Cubs and Orioles, was unfairly criticized for needing a translator before Congress.

"I think he did the right thing," Ortiz said. "You know why? If somebody wants to take me to court here, to go in front of a judge is not a joke. I speak English and everything, but sometimes they use some terms that you're not familiar with. You don't want to be caught and not understand what the judge is trying to tell you, then boom, you're in trouble, you know what I mean?

"I think him going with a person who really knew what the hell was going on and understood everything, I think it was the right thing to do. Some people, because they see the way we talk to [sports reporters] and speak English and everything, they think it's all good. But what we say to you guys, that's what we hear every day. It's not like we studied it.

"That judge up there doesn't sound like [sports reporters] sound. Uh-uh. They have different terms, and what you say has to be nothing but the truth, otherwise you're in deep [expletive]. Sammy wanted to make sure what they were telling him, he wasn't going to misunderstand, but people don't understand that. They all think, 'blah, blah, blah, he was using this, he was using that.' And nobody has proved anything."

Ortiz repeatedly has said he does not use performance-enhancing substances.

The health risks, he said, are not worth it to him.

"People will say they'll get you big, they'll get you strong, they'll make you rich, but personally I think it's a terrible decision," he said, "because life continues after baseball. What if right after you retire, your body breaks down and you have to spend two years in bed and then die? How was everything you did to make money, how was it worth it? So your family could look at you as a superhero, and you left a ton of money for them?

"I was talking to my son [D'Angelo, 2 1/2] this morning. He kept saying, 'Daddy, I love you, I miss you, when are you coming home, Daddy?'

"You know what that tells you? They care more about me being with them than what I can give them. They're not asking me, 'Hey Daddy, are you going to bring me something? No, they're saying, 'Daddy, we love you, we miss you.' That's a quick example to me of why it's not worth it, man."

Ortiz said if he knew a friend was using steroids, "I'd kind of let them know I don't think it's the right thing to do."

Initially he said it wouldn't bother him to know that someone using illegal substances hit more home runs than him or won an MVP award instead of him, then he stopped.

"Let me rewind that," he said. "You ask me about cheating. If I know I'm doing everything natural and someone is cheating, of course it would bother me, because I'm all natural and this person is cheating. Cheating is not fair, OK?

"I'm telling you the competition when I first came up to the big leagues, it was not fair. You're an athlete, you're clean, and you see guys hitting home runs, guys that do not have the power you have."

Ortiz thought of the widespread use of performance-enhancers in his native Dominican Republic, young kids dreaming of becoming the next Sammy Sosa or David Ortiz. Some of those kids have used steroids that are used by veterinarians for horses; some of those kids have died.

"They're putting stuff in their bodies and they're not even 17 or 18 years old," Ortiz said. "They put something in their bodies without knowing what it is. That's [expletive]. It's [expletive]."

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.