DownSwinging.com

When I decided to start this site, I swore to myself to not make any of my first articles about the Red Sox, my favorite sports franchise. But here we are, on May 27, and the one thing that everyone has been waiting to happen finally happened: David Ortiz has been moved down in the lineup. If anything, the move has come too late. Despite my own (sometimes questionable) obsession with No. 34, you just cannot sustain a three-hole hitter batting at the Mendoza line without any bombs. For a team like the Red Sox in a division like the AL East, that really begins to damper your offense.

The real question is, how much difference is the move going to make? Having Papi down to sixth in the order will give him slightly fewer at-bats per game, but the real hope is that he will stop trying to hit a dinger on every pitch, because right now he is swinging like a mad-man on literally every pitch. Ehh, maybe it will work, it’s certainly worth a shot, though I think the Sox would be better off moving Ortiz to the seven-hole, so they can have six solid players who actually produce, and then take their chances on Ortiz, Varitek and Nick Green/Julio Lugo. Sure, Boston Manager Terry Francona said the move was only temporary, but we all know that Pap isn’t going anywhere unless he can find his bat again. Boston rejected a Nick Johnson for Manny Delcarmen swap, a good move as it’s not time to panic yet, but the time may come. Of course, all of this has got everyone thinking the same thing but no one saying it: (except The Onion) Was Papi on ‘roids? Another story for another day, but it would be one more devastating blow to baseball, greater than Manny and maybe even greater than A-Rod. For now though, most will just assume and hope that either Papi forgot how to hold a bat or that old age has caught up to him a little earlier than most.