David Ortiz said the partially torn tendon sheath in his left wrist that caused him to miss 45 games in June and July is still bothering him.
“My hand is not OK,” Ortiz said. “But we’re winning, so I don’t pay attention to it. You try not to think about it. You just play.”
David Ortiz immediately tossed the bat aside. Big Papi hadn’t forgotten the home-run trot.
And the Red Sox haven’t forgotten how to make September exciting in Boston.
Ortiz homered for the first time in 20 games, Paul Byrd pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings for his fourth straight victory and the Sox beat the Rangers, 7-2, yesterday, moving within 1 1/2 games of the AL East lead.
Boston (84-58) is the closest it has been to division-leading Tampa Bay since July 28. Six of the next nine games are against the skidding Rays, starting tonight at Fenway Park.
“Now we get to go home and play hopefully some of the most exciting baseball of the year,” manager Terry Francona said. “We’ve played ourselves into a position where these games are really important. It’s exciting. We feel good about ourselves, about how we’re playing.”
Jason Bay also homered, and Alex Cora had an RBI triple for the Red Sox, who have won 14 of 18 games. Boston, the AL wild-card leader by 6 1/2 games over Minnesota, has been second in the division for 52 days since holding a half-game lead over Tampa Bay at the All-Star break.
“They’re as good as anybody out there,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said of the defending World Series champs. “One thing they’ve got is they’ve been there. ... Tampa Bay’s never been in that situation. The Angels are the Angels. If you’re asking me to make a pick, it’s Boston.”
“There’s no other story than us focusing on ourselves and what we have to do, period, like we’ve been doing,” Red Sox captain Jason Varitek said.
