The back-and-forth continues between Jim Palmer and David Ortiz.
Palmer, a Hall of Fame pitcher and longtime Baltimore Orioles broadcaster, criticized Ortiz via Twitter after the Boston Red Sox slugger was ejected from Sunday’s game at Fenway Park. Ortiz responded rather angrily Monday, and Palmer clarified his criticism Tuesday on WEEI’s “Middays with MFB.”
“I just think as a player, your allegiance and your better sense should be in line with what your ball club is trying to do,” Palmer said Tuesday. “David Ortiz is one heck of a hitter. On his way 500 home runs, he may be the best DH ever. He’s won a lot of games.
“You think back when he went 11 for 16 in the World Series and had an on-base percentage of 75 percent of the time, was one of the reasons why the Sox won the series in 2013. I don’t think anyone forgets that.”
Ortiz, who was upset about a check-swing strike call made by third base umpire Jerry Meals, made contact with home plate umpire John Tumpane following Sunday’s ejection. The nine-time All-Star received a one-game suspension and a fine Tuesday, but he chose to appeal the discipline.
Palmer, who wondered aloud Tuesday what a young Red Sox player, like Mookie Betts, was thinking as Ortiz’s frustration boiled over, said Meals might have played a role in the situation escalating. The former big league hurler didn’t let Ortiz off the hook entirely, though. Emotions certainly ran high.
“It was an overreaction by (Meals), but David is the guy that allows the Red Sox to win ballgames — not the umpire — and I just think he lost his cool a little bit,” Palmer said Tuesday. “I have no animosity towards David. I think he’s a fantastic player. I know what he’s done in the community. I know how important he’s been to the Red Sox. That wasn’t my point.
“I was just tweeting about what he did on Sunday, and I think what I’ve alluded to over the last 48 hours I’ve made that perfectly clear.”
The Red Sox travel to Baltimore later this week for a three-game series against the Orioles starting Friday. Palmer said he’d like to meet with Ortiz at that time in the hopes of burying the hatchet.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
