I was happy to have been watching the game last night when Big Papi finally went yard in the Sox 8-3 win over the Jays. The Sox beat up the Jays young pitching in the fifth scoring six runs and hitting four homers. Jason Bay, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek (who had two HR's on the day) all tagged up Brett Cecil in the inning. Brad Penny scattered some hits and only gave up two runs. He seems to be hitting his stride the past two outings.
There are definitely jerks on both sides of the Sox/Yanks rivalry, but I firmly believe that Oritz would've been booed out of town had he been a Yankee. The Sox fans have stuck with him and cheered him on, even when he was flailing at 89 mph fastballs a mile out of the strike zone. I hope this blast is a harbinger of things to come.
On that note, I don't think Ortiz is out of the woods yet. One homer does not a season make. This boost of confidence may get him through the next week, but then what? Perhaps this will flip a switch, and Papi will be some semblance of his former self for the rest of the year. Or maybe he hasn't really figured anything out and was just able to take advantage of a 22-year-old's garbage pitching. At the very least, David doesn't have to worry about that first HR anymore. That will help him relax and just hit.
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