How many times can Ortiz be clutch????

[hawkeyecub]

Well he just did it again. Down 8-6, bottom of the 9th and he hit a 3-run walk-off homer.

It just blows me away how many opportunities he seems to get to win the game in the 9th or extra innings and how often he comes through.

[circlechange]

The guy is unreal.

[MembersOnlyJacket]

The guy is unreal.

 

It's all in the approach.

 

He goes to the plate with the same approach in the 9th inning as he does in the 3rd. He looks for a ball in a zone and he tries to do something with it. It just so happens that when he gets that pitch he does something with it more than most. He has the best leadoff man in the game right now getting on base 40% of the time. Loretta always has a quality AB. The pitcher is almost always in the stretch and has been worked for several pitches by that point. And, he has Manny as protection.

 

I'm not trying to simplify what Ortiz has done. I was at a friends' house tonight and we all looked at each other before the inning and said, just get Big Papi up there and this is a ballgame. He is successful at about the same rate in those situations as he is in the others. He's a great player. He's the best hitter in the AL right now. He and Pujols are the last two guys in the game I'd want to face because they both have an approach and never get away from it.

[TB_11]

From Fire Joe Morgan

 

KT: This kills me to write, but…there is no such thing as clutch hitting. The reason it kills me is because I have watched David Ortiz win thirteen games with walk-off hits in the last three years, including three in the playoffs, and two in the last two days. David Ortiz/clutch hitting is like one of those magic eyes holograms – you know there is no 3-D space shuttle in the book you are holding, but holy Christ does it look like there is a 3-D space shuttle.

 

When you look at Ortiz's numbers for close and late they are pretty close to his overall numbers with his slugging being slightly higher. Still, I can't think of another player, possibly in history, that I would want up to bat in a game winning situation than Ortiz.