Papi spoke to reporters on Thursday night following the release of the New York Times story that reported he was one of the players on the 2003 list of those who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. During that interview following the Sox' 8-5 win over the A's at Fenway, the Sox slugger told the media horde: "You guys know I'm a guy who never turns my back on you guys. I've always been a true guy with you guys, and honestly, right now, I don't have any information about it. I'm going to get more info about the situation, and I'm going to honestly tell you guys what's up. But right now, I don't have no answer, no information."
Five days later, Papi still has no answers for the baseball world. But Ortiz's skipper, Terry Francona, spoke about the ordeal Tuesday afternoon and explained that Big Papi isn't speaking about it because of other circumstances involved — not because Ortiz wants to shy away from it.
"We need to stay patient and wait and that’s a hard — we need to wait," Tito said in his pregame news conference. "I’ve talked to a lot of people and we need to wait. I don’t know if that's fun for anybody, but that’s what we need to do.
"It’s not him,” Francona added. “This is not David right now. We’re waiting. We’re all on hold. There are some things I’ve learned that have surprised me that I didn’t know. I don’t mean about David, I mean about how things worked. I’m a little surprised at things I never even gave a thought to before.”
The accusations haven't appeared to faze Ortiz as he's gone 5-for-17 with two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs in the first four games since the story broke.
