TAKE a seat, Big Papi. After all, it’s where you’re most comfortable – when you’re not in the batter’s box.
We interrupt the MVP coronation of David Ortiz to give you this fact, courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau: as of Friday afternoon, Ortiz had homered 18 times to even the score or put his team ahead this season.
So had A-Rod.
Call it a draw. Tie goes to the player, not the hitter.
The reason Alex Rodriguez should take home the MVP is fairly simple. Ortiz may be neck-and-neck with A-Rod in most offensive categories, but he’s a DH. Half a player, that is.
Whatever you want to say about A-Rod, you can’t say that.
Ortiz has received so much media backslapping in the last few weeks that we might as well not even play the last week of the season, right?
Why bother seeing which player helps his team win a division title? After all, Big Papi has carried the Red Sox on his back these last few weeks (even though A-Rod’s team leapfrogged Boston on Wednesday night).
Unfortunately, we live in an age where what you’ve done last speaks loudest. That’s why, even among some Yankee watchers, Mariano Rivera’s 80 innings are deemed more valuable than A-Rod’s 600 Hall of Fame-quality ABs and nearly 1,400 innings in the field.
And incidentally, Rodriguez is a virtual cinch to earn the Gold Glove in his second season at third base.
It’s almost comical, the selective amnesia that A-Rod’s critics display. On Wednesday night, the Yankees won a 2-1 game in which Rivera nailed down his 41st save.
Three innings earlier, A-Rod had dived into the hole to snare Javy Lopez’s hot grounder and thrown him out to strand the tying run at third.
If A-Rod doesn’t do his job with excellence, Rivera – who won’t even win the Cy Young – can’t do his. Also, it’s the type of MVP contribution Ortiz is unable to make.
Back to Ortiz: everyone is so excited about Big Papi’s walk-off homers. I’m still blown away by A-Rod’s monster two-run blast off former closer Curt Schilling in the top of the ninth inning at Fenway on July 14.
To me, that was one of the biggest moments in the season. The Yanks shook Schilling’s confidence, won the game and went on to take three of four in that series.
A-Rod has been occasionally awesome, but he’s been consistently exceptional.
Yes, Ortiz is a more productive slugger in close, late-inning situations. He has more RBIs and he’s having a better September.
But where was he on Sept. 11, when the Red Sox had a chance to go five games up on the Yankees?
The Sox needed to put the banged-up Johnny Damon at DH, and Ortiz – as we keep mentioning – can’t play the field.
Nursing some back soreness, he was given the first seven innings off against Randy Johnson. Boston lost 1-0.
That’s your MVP?
NYPOST.com
Who should be the AL MVP?
David Ortiz 21.9% (1283 votes)
Alex Rodriguez 73.4% (4307 votes)
Neither 4.7% (276 votes)
MVP CALCULATOR
(Through Sept. 22)
A-Rod Category Ortiz
$27.7M Salary $5.25M
152/569 G/AB 149 563
.316 AVG .300
.416 OBP .396
.603 SLG .616
180 H 169
113 R 114
45 HR 46*
121 RBI 140*
131 SO 112
15 SB 1
* AL Leader
AVG. IN CLUTCH SITUATIONS
A-Rod SITUATION Ortiz
.290 RISP .345
.291 RISP/2 OUT .370
.429 BASES LOADED .400
.289 RUNNERS ON/2 OUT .322
.292 CLOSE & LATE .338
.337 BASES EMPTY .286
VS. BOS/NYY
A-Rod Category Ortiz VS. BOSVS. NYY
16 G 16
59 AB 63
10 R 14
15 H 18
5 HR 5
10 RBI 17
8(0) BB(INT) 7(1)
13 SO 13
1 GIDP 1
.353 OBP .342
.542 SLG .571
.254 AVG .286
IN SEPTEMBER
A-Rod Category Ortiz
76 AB 71
15 R 15
23 H 24
5 HR 10
16 RBI 22
6(1) BB(INT) 15(1)
22 SO 12
.386 OBP .438
.539 SLG .789
.303 AVG .338
* Rodriguez is the first Yankee to hit 40 homers in a season since Joe DiMaggio hit 46 in 1937. He is setting a new record for homers hit by a righty at Yankee Stadium in a season (25 and counting), topping mark shared by DiMaggio and Gary Sheffield.
* Ortiz’s 46 homers (through Thursday) are the most in Red Sox history by a left-handed hitter, three more than Ted Williams ever hit in a season.
