Ortiz back on track

With postseason looming, slugger rounding into form

It’s been a season in Pedro Martinez’s “Wonderland” for Sox designated hitter David Ortiz.

That may sound like a pleasant experience, but the former Sox ace and fellow Dominican Republic native used the term to describe a season when he didn’t know what was going to happen next The 32-year-old designated hitter battled through a hellacious slump to start the season, then moved on to life without lineup protector Manny Ramirez. Add a balky left wrist that’s bothered Ortiz intermittently all season long, and you have a recipe for disaster.

But Big Papi appears to have come out of the season of struggles just in time to make a run as the linchpin of Boston’s postseason offense. With his left wrist feeling good on most days  — and clicking a bit with discomfort on the worst of days, usually after traveling on the Sox chartered flight — Ortiz entered last night with eight home runs and 36 RBIs in his last 38 games with the Sox.

Those are much more Papi-like numbers.

“You can tell by his body language when he’s spitting on those gloves that he’s feeling pretty good,” said Sox manager Terry Francona. “Some nights, we haven’t really had anything we could hang our hat on as a team, so seeing David swinging the bat that way is good.”

The overall season numbers aren’t going to look all that Ortiz-like with a .263 batting average, 22 home runs and 87 RBIs entering last night (not to mention a below-his-normal-level .500 slugging percentage) in 105 games played during an injury-shortened 2008 campaign. But what matters to Ortiz and the Sox is simply how the 6-foot-4, 230-pound basher is feeling during the all-important month of October — and all signs point toward a healthy-enough wrist contributing to the violent, powerful stroke that has made him, in the words of Sox management, the Greatest Clutch Hitter in Red Sox History.

The Sox are undoubtedly banged up as the postseason approaches, but having a relatively healthy Ortiz — along with refreshed righthanded pitcher Josh Beckett — could make all the difference in the world.