David Ortiz Finding His Groove

"Big Papi" David Ortiz is starting to finally find his groove after the worst start in his MLB career. Ortiz's struggles carried over from last season, where he hit just 23 homers with 89 RBI's, the lowest totals since becoming a member of the Red Sox. Ortiz, who is beloved in Red Sox Nation, was booed at the beginning of the season, after his poor start. Ortiz did not hit a home run for the first 34 games of the season, resulting in numerous benchings and missed playing time. Ortiz had said that he hasn't done anything different with his swing and even got his eyes checked, with no problems.

But on May 20, Ortiz finally hit his first homer of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays, much to the delight of Red Sox fans. Many people thought that the homer would get Ortiz out of his slump but that wasn't the case. Ortiz continued to struggle but Red Sox manager Terry Francona kept starting Ortiz as the designated hitter in hope that Big Papi would go on a hot streak. 14 games since hitting his first homer, Ortiz hit his second against the Texas Rangers. This started a small streak as Ortiz would hit two more home runs in a three-game series against the New York Yankees, to bring his season total to four.

Ortiz hit home runs in back-to-back games for the first time of the season against the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals. He followed that up with another homer against the Braves, raising his total to eight. Ortiz hit his first home run of July against the Seattle Mariners in a Red Sox victory.

Ortiz had his best game of the season in his most recent start on July 8 against the Oakland Athletics. In the sixth inning, Ortiz hit a mammoth three-run homer, giving the Red Sox the lead, and finished with a season-high 4 RBI's. The Red Sox held on to win the game by the score 5-4, and Ortiz was the player of the game. After a very slow start, Ortiz is starting to heat up with 10 home runs, seven hit in June and two already in July.

Ortiz's resurgence could not come at a better time for the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox currently are leading the AL East division, have the best record in the American League, and the second best record in all of baseball, only behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Red Sox (51-33) are a season-high eighteen games over .500, as they head into the All-Star break. The Red Sox only hold a one game lead in the division over the surging New York Yankees, who are 8-2 in their last ten games. The Yankees are only a game behind the AL East leaders, even though losing eight straight games against the Red Sox to start the season.

A healthy Ortiz can make the Red Sox, one of the best teams in the MLB, an even better team. A fun fact is that the Red Sox are 10-0 when Ortiz hits a homer. Ortiz has yet to have a multi-homer game but expect one soon.