Steroid report infuriates Ortiz, Francona

TORONTO -- The Barry Bonds fallout went beyond Curt Schilling and his blog.

Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, who spoke with the Boston Herald earlier this week about the Giants slugger, was furious about a short story that accompanied the main piece, one that appeared under the headline, "Papi unwitting 'roid user?" In that story, Ortiz spoke about how he used to drink protein shakes in his native Dominican Republic, but abandoned the practice because he didn't know what the drinks contained. "I don't know if I drank something in my youth, not knowing it," he told the Herald.

The national media picked up the story, and Ortiz said yesterday he may stop talking to reporters altogether. "Maybe it's better not to say anything," said Ortiz, frustrated that the story invited unwanted attention.

Manager Terry Francona also was distressed.

"I've got a writer from Toronto who comes in last night, and he was on a mission," Francona said. "He goes, 'Ortiz fessed up to taking steroids.' That's how he starts with me. I almost carried him by his collar out of here. That's not true. That's being unprofessional. That's disappointing.

"I've got to go through the next 10 cities trying to defend David. That should never happen."

Ortiz in past interviews has adamantly said he has not used illegal performance-enhancing substances.

"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," Ortiz said last month in a Globe story about his friendship with Sammy Sosa, who like Bonds has been tainted by steroids speculation. "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, who will be 3 in July] 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."

Any media boycott was short-lived because Ortiz, who went 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs and a homer in the Red Sox' 9-3 victory, spoke to television reporters after the game. He did not, however, have anything to say to the print media.

Pitching coach John Farrell disputed a report in Baseball Prospectus that closer Jonathan Papelbon's arm slot has been noticeably lower, either because "he's hurt or because of a mechanical anomaly."

"The arm, which was lower in spring training, was more a result of his lead arm as opposed to his actual throwing arm," Farrell said. "As he worked on his side to side, or as he puts it, his Ferris wheel-carousel analogy, because he works side to side, he ends up getting a little bit lower in the elbow and pushes the ball a little bit. The work we do in the bullpen prior to [his appearances] emphasizes his lead arm, to get him to where as he separates, we try to get him the feeling of his left elbow actually brushing past his left rib cage. So that's keeping it tight, and he's working north and south versus getting out and working east and west.

"It's nothing health-related. He's checked daily from a strength standpoint to range of motion, everything.

"His gun readings last week were 94-96, 97 [miles per hour]. We've done side-by-side analysis; a lot of attention has been paid to him for obvious reasons. Once those adjustments were made in spring training, certainly there's been maintenance as we've gone along, but nothing wholesale like we did in spring training."

Public Enemy No. 1 in Toronto? Would you believe Mike Lowell, who came into last night's game with a .368 average against the Blue Jays (46 for 125), the highest all-time among players with at least 100 at-bats? Lowell walked, doubled, singled, and homered last night . . . Kevin Youkilis was in Francona's original lineup, but was scratched after he came to the ballpark and complained of stiffness in his left quadriceps. Youkilis was hit by pitches about 6 inches apart in consecutive games, Sunday in Minnesota by Glen Perkins, Tuesday night by Casey Janssen . . . Francona, on winning his 300th game as Sox manager Tuesday: "If that's the milestone we're hanging our hat on this year, we're not doing very well." . . . While Josh Beckett is within one of the club record for consecutive starts won to begin a season, he is only halfway to Roger Clemens's club record of 14 consecutive wins to start a season, which the Rocket did in 1986.

Blue Jays vice president Paul Godfrey said the jobs of general manager J.P. Ricciardi and manager John Gibbons are not in jeopardy after meeting with Ricciardi, Gibbons, and the coaching staff. "I told them I know we're going through some troubled times," Godfrey told the Toronto Star, "but that there's a lot of baseball to play and they have our continued cooperation and support. Look, we want to win. We expect to win. Nobody can be happy about this. But if somebody's thinking somebody's about to be fired, well, nobody's going to be fired. As of right now, no one's under the gun."