NEW YORK - David Ortiz, meet Andruw Jones.
He's walked in your shoes.
Jones is a 10-time Gold Glove center fielder who made his mark with the Atlanta Braves, flopped with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and is now trying to resurrect his career at 32 with the exciting Texas Rangers, who will be at Fenway tonight for the start of a three-game series after dropping two of three to the Yankees, including yesterday's 8-6 setback.
Jones lost his stroke in his final year in Atlanta in 2007, and last season in Los Angeles he hit .158 and battled weight problems and injuries after signing a two-year, $36.2 million deal with the Dodgers. Jones's agent, Scott Boras, negotiated an exit from Los Angeles, where the sentiment toward Jones by fans had become oppressive.
Jones, hitting .278 with five homers in 14 RBIs in a platoon role, has begun to slump again - 2 for 14 with six strikeouts in his last three games and .240 over his last 11 to go from .340 to .278. Looking back on last season, Jones, who hit 51 homers for the Braves in 2005, can feel for Ortiz.
"I know David, but I don't know him well enough to talk to him, but I understand what's going on in his head right now," Jones said yesterday at Yankee Stadium. "The first thing you have to look at, is he hurt? He loves the game. He loves to play. If he's not hurt then he's just pressing a little too much. He's probably just trying to do too much because you just don't lose it that quick. Whatever he did in the past he's not doing, so he's got to get back to doing what he did so many years in a row."
Jones, like Ortiz, spent many hours in the batting cage and watching video of his swing, but could never bring what he thought he corrected in the cage to the game. Jones is now working with what many baseball people feel is the best hitting coach in the game, Rudy Jaramillo, who certainly has helped.
"David was in a better situation than I was because he's been in Boston for many years," said Jones. "They love him there. Even if he flies out or strikes out, people still cheer for him. It was a different situation [in LA], every time I struck out I'd be hearing boos. It was a little tougher situation than he was in. Once he gets going he's going to be the same David Ortiz that he is."
Like Ortiz, Jones heard people say, "Is he all done?"
"You can't worry too much about what people say," said Jones. "If you do, you just press a little more. You just have to relax and let things happen."
While some players and coaches feel designated hitters often obsess over their at-bats and would be better off playing the field, Jones doesn't agree.
"Not for him, because he's [DH'd] six, seven years," said Jones. "If you have a bad at-bat you can go into the cage and work on something during the game. I think there are advantages, actually. It's not like when you're playing defense because if you're going bad at the plate you have to put it aside and concentrate on your defense, so in some ways it's tougher because you don't have that time between at-bats to see if you can straighten it out. I think he's going to figure it out."
Jones's comeback is far from complete. He has hit a bad stretch, and when that happens the possibility exists he will morph back into the hideous hitter he was in LA.
"I came over here and just worked on the things I needed to work on," he said. "When I get my chance to play, I just need to make the most of those chances. I think I can play everyday in this league still, but that's not the way it is right now."
Jones didn't play yesterday against Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang in a game in which the Rangers blew a 5-1 lead. The Rangers' offense keeps them in a lot of games, but there's still debate over whether the team is for real.
They have yet to play in the Texas heat, which normally wears them down in August. Team president Nolan Ryan might be their most recognizable starting pitcher, but the Rangers are improving.
"I think pitching was the question for this team in the past and I think in spring training we found the pitching was solid," said 42-year-old shortstop Omar Vizquel. "Our pitching has given us a chance to win almost every ballgame. I think these games against the Yankees and Boston are going to make our guys see what it takes to beat the toughest teams. I think this is a great test to see where we stand."
"Our pitching has gotten better. Our defense has gotten better," said Texas manager Ron Washington. "I thought we played three good games here even though we got blown out that first game. We have nothing to hold our head down about. We played good baseball."
Are the Rangers for real?
"I've never seen them take one day and bring it into the next," said Washington. "One bad defeat or one great win would never interfere in our preparation for the next game. We are going in the right direction. We're making progress."
Nobody really knows if the Rangers are legit. Ask them again at the end of August.
Ask them when they know if Josh Hamilton, on the disabled list with an abdominal strain, will be back any time soon. Ask them when they know if Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, lefthanded phenom Derek Holland, and Brandon McCarthy, who went only four innings yesterday, will pitch well all season.
Ask them when they see Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Nelson Cruz put up impressive numbers the rest of the way. Ask them if they end a seven-game losing streak at Fenway and show they can beat the beasts of the AL East. As Washington said, "Anything you want to do in this league goes through Boston. Or it goes through New York.".
Ask them when they know whether Jones will hit all season.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. 
