He's not making excuses, though, as he denied a Minneapolis Star-Tribune report that said he privately admitted that he was battling some wrist pain.
"Don’t pay attention to that crap," Ortiz told the Boston Herald prior to Monday's game in Minnesota. "I’m fine. If I’d have been raking, they wouldn’t be saying that."
Ortiz seemed to attribute his early-season struggles to pitchers simply giving him tough pitches to hit.
"I'm fine," he reiterated to the Herald. "I'm seeing a lot of pitches. They’re throwing me a lot of [expletive], but that's part of the game. You know, that's how it goes sometimes. People see me getting out, just the result, but they don’t see that [opponents] aren’t trying to give you anything to hit. Here, chase, chase, chase. I'm trying to hit a 3-1 changeup on the black. That's OK. They're going to make a mistake, and when they make a mistake, I'll be ready."
So far, Ortiz has not been ready, most recently going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts on Sunday in Kansas City. On the year, he's batting just .111 with one double and nine strikeouts in 18 at-bats. He's also just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Ortiz said that the only way to get through the rough stretch is to tune out the critics.
"I just can't pay any attention to any of this crap going on around me," he told the Herald. "Just play the game. The game is hard enough for people to be talking trash about you and you paying attention to it. You can't listen to it."
