Slumping is bad, but being in a slump as a designated hitter is even worse.  You realize that you can’t do anything in the game to help the team if you’re not hitting then you start to press too hard and the situation can get worse.People have raised a variety of concerns about Papi: that he’s got a problem with his swing, that his wrist is still hurt, that he’s lost bat speed.  None of those problems is the cause of this slump.  His swing looks the same as it always has (quick and fluid) and all indications are that his wrist is fine.  If these problems were the cause of his slump, there are things that a player can do to compensate (grab a lighter bat and tape the wrist).  Papi’s problem is that he is not seeing the ball well.

To bust out of this slump he needs to shorten his swing and hit the ball where it is pitched rather than getting angry and trying to crush 500 foot home runs every time he gets up.  Basically, he needs to hit more like Dustin Pedroia and less like Big Papi.  Pedroia hits the ball to all parts of the field and doesn’t press to put up power numbers.  Papi needs to be willing to hit the ball the other way, get on base, and let the power numbers come later.

I’m going to stick by what I have said about Papi all season, he will be fine.  He could still get hot and be on pace for a 25 home run season by the All Star break.

It was great to see the way the fans supported Big Papi throughout his slump and applauded him after he hit his first home run of the year.  It was a 91mph fastball that David got hold of and launched to the camera well in center field.  He didn’t try to do too much with the pitch: just put a good swing it and make contact out in front of the plate.

Home runs come in bunches.  Don’t be surprised if papi puts up some good numbers this weekend.

Let me answer that question briefly: nothing!  I’ve looked at Papi’s stance and swing, compared it to previous seasons, and I just don’t see anything wrong with him.

The media has made much of Papi’s recent struggles including articles this week from Ken Rosenthal and Howard Bryant on FoxSports and ESPN respectively.

Earlier this season, I though David was making contact with the ball after it had crossed the plate; he was late with his swing.  But in what I have seen from him lately, his swing looks fine.  He is hitting the ball out in front of the plate, but he is hitting into the shift every time he makes contact.

His numbers may be down but the team is winning.  If he continues to make solid contact this slump will be a faint memory by August.  He’ll finish the season with 25-30home runs in spite of, or perhaps fueled by, this slow start.

The Red Sox are winning, the offense has been exciting, and the bullpen is exceptional. The Red Sox started this streak by scoring runs and winning without David Ortiz, but now he is starting to drive the ball more.  So the offense is not a concern, at least at this point in the season.  However, it was a concern during the west coast road trip earlier this month where the team struggled to put up runs.

It will be interesting to see how the team reacts on this current road trip.  When you are winning ballgames and playing at home, the team starts to get on a roll.  Players get to the ballpark early and are happy and eager for the night’s match up.  Winning is a great way to build camaraderie in the clubhouse.

Right now the team has won 10 straight games and about to play some tough teams on the road in Cleveland, Tampa, and New York.  Hopefully, this homestand built momentum that will carryover onto this road trip, but sometimes it can be difficult to play in that comfort zone that you have at home.

This past series against the White Sox was a split but I thought the Red played pretty good.  They ran into some tough pitching but played each game competitively and, had they been able to score some runs against the bullpen, this could have been a 4 game sweep for Boston. I think people are worried about Josh Beckett but he just hasn’t been getting run support.  Clay Buchholz is a different story; Clay needs confidence to hit spots because he has live fastball and good breaking ball.  The problem is that he gets rattled when pressure’s on causing him to guide the ball the ball to the plate.  When the velocity is not there his pitches hang. Clay has the ability and talent but his is still a little immature in his makeup.

Now Boston has a good opportunity to gain some momentum against Texas. Mike Lowell and Papi are both ready to go tonight (Lowell is here reading the paper).  They both appear healthy so this series looks good for Boston.

I just talked to Bob Montgomery and he said that Charlie Zink is not quite as good as Wakefield in terms of movement on the knuckler, but that he has the ability to get outs regardless.  What Zink needs to do is hit his locations and get swings and misses from last minute movement.  If Zink can keep the team in the game and keep the ball in the ballpark, the Sox have a good chance of getting a win tonight.

Find some momentum in this series and get some confidence going into what could be a tough series at the end of the week against Toronto.

When Papi Comes back, where do you put JD Drew in the lineup?
Ryan T., Shrewsbury, MA

JD Drew may bat in different spots in the lineup, switching between the third, fifth, and sixth spot in the order depending on the pitching match up.  My thought is that if he is swinging good, keep him at the three spot in the lineup.  With Drew hitting third, you can take some of the pressure off of Ortiz by hitting him lower in the order.

The Red Sox lost the first game of this series which was a frustrating game.  Justin Masterson had some trouble hitting his spots.  Masterson is a sinkerballer and the Reds are a team with a lot of left-handed bats in their line-up.  Coming from a right-handed pitcher, that sinker is going to break right into the hitting zone of a lot of those left-handed Cincinnati hitters.  Aaron Harang also pitched well for the Reds and is a better pitcher than his record indicates.

In the second game of the series, the Red Sox did well against a great pitcher in Edinson Volquez.  The Red Sox were able to capitalize on mistakes and manufacture some runs and prove that they can be a competitive team without Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

The Jonathan Papelbon pitch that Edwin Encarnacion hit for the game tying homerun was a case of missed location as Pap threw him a split fingered fastball that didn’t move.  Luckily the sox were able to get those runs back.  The Coco Crisp homerun was another case of missed location: he tends to struggle with an inside pitch and pull it foul, the pitch he hit for a homerun was out over the plate and Coco was able to get his arms extended and drive the ball.

The finale was a good win for the Red Sox offense without Manny and Papi, Josh Beckett showed that he may be rounding into MidSeason form, and JD Drew continues to crush the ball.

The offense has held up pretty good while David Ortiz is out of the lineup. The Red Sox were even able to score 9 runs yesterday without Manny Ramirez in the lineup. This upcoming series is another interleague match up in a National League ballpark which means that Big Papi may not have been in the lineup for at least one of the games anyway. The most important thing while Papi is out is protecting Manny in the lineup. You don’t need to substitute for Papi’s Home Runs, you need players to get base hits in place of Papi. Sean Casey is a pretty good LH hitter, Lowell can step it up and fill part of that void, Varitek is capable, Drew has been on a tear, and maybe Lugo can help the team with some offense.

The injury to Papi seems to be fairly basic in terms of recovery. From what I hear, no surgery is necessary; just wrap it up and maybe take a cortisone shot. In the meantime, let’s hope the team can put up some runs without him in the lineup.

A lot of people are concerned about the health of David Ortiz. Some people think that David might be hurt this year and that is the cause of his slump at the beginning of this season. The truth is that guys go into slumps from time to time, it’s just part of the game.

Big Papi just needs to learn to adjust, and not just adjust from at-bat to at-bat, but adjust on every pitch. When pitchers see weaknesses, they work on it. David works hard and he’ll go back and look at video and make the adjustments that will make him an even better player.

Coco Crisp has been hitting well and this is because he is making adjustments, and he knows Ellsbury is knocking on the door should he fail.

One observation I made in the Toronto series is that Blue Jays pitchers were pitching all of the leftys down and in. Low and inside seems almost like a blind spot for left handed hitters. All of the Red Sox left handed hitters, JD, Ellsbury, Coco, Varitek, and even Big Papi, were being pitched low and inside. The home run that JD hit was a mistake that Halladay left out over the plate.

Watch where the catcher is setting up on left handed hitters. A lot of times he will be almost on the left hip. There is blind spot down there, and some of these guys are just not seeing it.