Ortiz deflects injury talk

CLEVELAND - David Ortiz's knee is hurting. However, when asked last night to rate his pain on a scale of 1 to 10, the Red Sox designated hitter replied, "zero." Ortiz also said that, despite a report to the contrary, he never considered sitting out any of the American League Championship Series because of the right knee that has been bothering him much of the season and which worsened after Saturday night's extra inning game.

Despite a report on ESPN Deportes, Ortiz laughed when asked if there were a chance he would miss time in this series.

"No," he said. "Now? No. I've got to go."

And he almost endured more damage in last night's 4-2 Game 3 loss to the Indians when Manny Ramírez's grounder to shortstop hit Ortiz very close to a rather sensitive area. But he could laugh about it after the game, fortunately for him.

That out was made after Ortiz doubled leading off the fourth for his only hit of the game. He grounded into a double play in the first inning, walked in the sixth, and lined out sharply in the eighth.

Still, neither the bruise nor the swollen knee was about to keep Ortiz from playing. He wasn't interested in excuses, nor was he interested in considering sitting out any remaining games, especially with his team down, 2-1, in the best-of-seven series.

"Hey, look," Ortiz said. "I'm all right. I'll come back to play tomorrow and we'll get it done. We'll be all right. We had the bases loaded and no outs in one inning and we don't score, that's the difference in the game right there. You've got to put pressure on those guys. If you don't do things at the right time it'll come back and haunt you."

Like his knee injury. His right knee, which appeared bigger than his left as Ortiz sat and watched Game 4 of the NLCS, started to bother him during Saturday night's game, in which Ortiz was on base three times (walk, single, fielder's choice).

"After the last game it was very, very swollen, but I'm better now," he said. "I just had a lot of swelling. It really was so very, very big. It's fine today. It went back to normal."

Ortiz took a cortisone shot Sept. 29, just before the postseason started. He had taken a cortisone shot in his left shoulder in early August. He has said repeatedly he will need to have the knee, which he originally injured last season, surgically repaired in the offseason.

He has, almost without exception, played through the pain before finally revealing that he had a torn meniscus that was preventing him from using his knees to hit as he normally would.

But, as bad as it got Saturday, he indicated that virtually nothing would prevent him from taking to the batter's box in this ALCS. He knows the Red Sox need his bat, and he's loath to deprive them (and himself) of his presence in the lineup.

"If I just keep thinking about my knee, my knee, my knee, it's going to make it worse," Ortiz said. "We don't have that much room, that much space in between that we can be thinking about [it]. I know that I'm hurting, but what else can I do but go out there and try my best, like I've been doing. Just got to put everything behind you. I'm trying my best. The other day I was [really] hurting. But I've got to forget about it. We've got a short period of time right now. Unless I can't get out of my bed, I've got to keep on playing."

Jackie MacMullan of the Globe staff contributed to this report; Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.