Sox Win Great Comeback, but.....I have worries

To win a dramatic 10-8 comeback by defeating Jeremy Guthrie, the Orioles' best pitcher, on a night when the Red Sox were down 7-0, is a pretty damned good night. These kind of comebacks happen only a few times a season........yet......

Big Papi Is in a Hitting Rut

Yet, I find myself very concerned about David Ortiz at this point. I could understand if he were just "getting off to a slow start," but he looks so bad at the plate now. On top of whatever mechanical parts of his swing are messed-up, I think Big Papi is also pressing now - It seems in his head. He swung at a couple of pitches tonight that were out of the strike zone -- He got struck out on high fastballs twice. This hasn't happened a lot over the past few years. Ortiz, in the past, has watched the ball all the way to the plate and been able to take a quick late swing. Sometimes he's been able to flick the bat so fast and late in his swing that he hits a home run or a double off the green monster, maybe. This year, he is not getting the bat around as quickly and he's swinging and missing OR fouling pitches off that he has hit for the past five years.

What is going on? My own theory is that his wrist injury and his adjustments to it are still causing him trouble. In parts of last year, his swing looked a bit different too - and he was in pain then. Supposedly, he was told to rest the wrist all winter and it'd get better -- So far, I'm not buying that everything is OK.....Either he got his mechanics all fouled up in response to the injury OR it's still bothering him.

I just don't like what I'm reading and hearing about Ortiz, either. Tony Masserotti of the Boston Globe made a comment that he thought Papi was getting fooled on breaking balls, because he was trying to "cheat" by partly looking for the fastball - and the reason for that may be that Ortiz feels he's not getting around on fastballs quickly enough. Then, Buster Olney of ESPN wrote about Ortiz' struggles. Others are.......I just hope he's OK but, if his wrist is hurt, he ought to get it addressed. If he's not playing well this year, I don't think the Sox can make it anywhere.

Papelbon Looked Bit Better Tonight, but Still is Not His Old Self

Tonight, Papelbon, after some rest, was throwing the ball hard - but again, two hitters were able to hit pretty deep flyballs off his heater. His fastball was at 94 mph or 95 or 96, but, somehow, it looks more "straight" than it has in the past and lacks the "late life." He looked best tonight on the last pitch of the game when he got Pie to swing and miss on the third strike. I think that was his only "swing and miss" strike of the outing. That's very unusual for Papelbon when he's on. It happened last time too.. Until I see him with more zip in his pitches and getting guys to miss, I'll remain worried that somthing is "off" or wrong with Papelbon.

Other items of note:

Penny looked terrible -- He threw all flat fastballs and his curve wasn't great either and his location was bad....I can't see this guy improving enormously - I hope I'm wrong. Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez pitched very well and helped save the game tonight.