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Big Papi’s greatest qualities on display in finale
- Updated: October 11, 2016
BOSTON — We didn’t need this memory. Lord knows David Ortiz has provided plenty of others in his storied career.
This man was one of the smiling faces of that Idiot squad that shook one of the game’s unshakable curses. He used five words to sum up a city’s defiance in the face of terror in 2013 (and we didn’t even mind that one of those words was an F-bomb). He was an October legend with a flair for the dramatic. He was an outsized presence on the stat sheet, on your TV screen and in your hopes (for Red Sox fans) or fears (everybody else).
So we didn’t need him to make the exit so touching, especially considering Monday’s result at Fenway Park, for Big Papi and the Red Sox, was so troubling — a 4-3 loss that completed the Tribe’s three-game sweep.
Game Date Matchup Highlights Gm 1 Oct. 6 CLE 5, BOS 4 Gm 2 Oct. 7 CLE 6, BOS 0 Gm 3 Oct. 10 CLE 4, BOS 3 • Red Sox vs. Indians ALDS coverageShop for postseason gear: Red Sox | Indians
But he did.
We’ll remember that look in Papi’s eyes when what turned out to be his final plate appearance in the eighth inning was a four-pitch walk issued by Cody Allen. The way he strode so slowly to first base and how, for a moment, you thought David Ortiz might become the first Major Leaguer in history to argue with the home-plate umpire about a ball. (He would later explain he was merely trying to pump up the next batter, Hanley Ramirez, in advance of Hanley’s RBI single.)
We’ll remember what happened when Marco Hernandez came out to relieve him at second base, representing the tying run that never came home. Ortiz pounded on Hernandez’s helmet, trying to will all his energy, all his desire into the pinch-runner.
We saw him there on the top step of the dugout, begging for a rally, for a ticket to Game 4, for his very baseball life.
• Big Papi farewell | Teammates react
And then, …
