David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez have long been buddies, seen here at a charity golf event in 2009. Credit: Getty Images
After a decade of clutch hits, there is little that Red Sox slugger David Ortiz can say in a public forum that would draw the ire of Boston fans. Sticking up for Alex Rodriguez might be one of them.
The Sox DH told USA Today that he thought Ryan Dempster was wrong in hitting the embattled Rodriguez with a pitch last Sunday night at Fenway Park.
“It’s not that I didn’t think it was right because Alex and I are friends, because once you cross the white lines, everyone’s on their own,” Ortiz said. “But we’ve got Tampa right on our heels and that pitch woke up a monster in the Yankees’ team at that moment.
“I didn’t like it. I don’t think it was the right thing to do. But we don’t all think alike and the guy who did it, Dempster, is a great guy.”
Rodriguez had dinner at the home of Ortiz on Saturday night, 24 hours before the much-discussed beaning. It was not the first time the two have “hung out” during a Red Sox-Yankees series as they were spotted together at a popular Boston restaurant back in 2008.
