Strong statement is made by Ortiz

The numbers were staggering for David Ortiz. Seventeen at-bats and one hit against the Rays in the American League Championship Series, no home runs, no RBIs. His only hit was a triple that banged against the low wall in right field at the tail end of another Rays' rout of the Red Sox.

Suddenly, with one swing of the bat, it changed. With the Sox trailing, 7-1, in the bottom of the seventh, Ortiz stepped into the batter's box to face reliever Grant Balfour with runners on first and third and two outs. After taking a ball, Ortiz launched a towering home run into the right-field seats. It was a sight Red Sox fans hadn't seen in a long time and his three-run homer helped catapult the Sox to an 8-7 victory in Game 5 of the ALCS.

Ortiz had gone 15 games and 61 at-bats in the postseason without hitting a home run. His previous postseason homer came in Game 4 of the 2007 ALCS against Cleveland.

"It's hard, it's hard," said Ortiz, "but you got to keep fighting."

Without Ortiz and the majority of his teammates not hitting, the Red Sox looked as if they were on the way out of the playoffs. Ortiz, as the statistics reflect, had been going through his worst postseason period.

"I've been missing a lot of balls," he said. "I don't want to get too many things into my head about my swing. I was only missing balls by a few inches."

That's what had fans thinking the Sox were going to be eliminiated before Ortiz starting hitting again, but Ortiz looks at it differently. He insists slumps happen, it's just when they happen that makes it significant.

"We go into slumps like this during the season but nobody notices," he said. "But this is the postseason and every at bat counts.

"If I'm not hitting, I'm still going to be the same guy."

The Sox are still on the brink of elimination as they head to Tampa for Game 6 tomorrow night.

"We're not going to give up," said Ortiz. "We've got to stop that team on offense. We've got to fight."

Despite his lack of recent power, last night's homer was Ortiz 11th in the postseason, the most in Red Sox history. He had been tied with Manny Ramírez.