Look out, Dustin!
Dustin Pedroia was forced to take cover as David Ortiz went bonkers on a phone hanging in the visitor’s clubhouse at Camden Yards on Saturday. Ortiz swung wildly at the phone with a bat, all but destroying it, and he eventually charged back onto the field before being restrained. Pedroia appeared to confront Ortiz following the incident, but the second baseman insists he was trying to calm the big fella down.
“Guys get frustrated. It’s part of the game,” Pedroia said following the Red Sox’ 7-3 win. “I just wanted to make sure that David didn’t get too bad to where he gets suspended or anything like that. It’s part of the game.”
Ortiz was upset with home plate umpire Tim Timmons’ strike zone. Ortiz thought he had worked a four-pitch walk — as Jairo Asencio’s 3-0 offering looked high — and he flipped his bat aside as he prepared to take his base. Timmons called the 3-0 pitch a strike, though, and Ortiz struck out two pitches later, at which point the slugger went ballistic and got ejected.
Ortiz wasn’t able to finish the game, but the Red Sox had already built a lead by that point, so the ejection didn’t play too much of a factor. Pedroia understands Ortiz’s importance to the club, though, and he wanted to try to make sure that his teammate wouldn’t be subjected to any supplemental discipline.
“Yeah, he’s the biggest part of our lineup. We can’t lose David for one game,” Pedroia said. “I’m sure it looked pretty funny, the smallest guy out there yelling at the biggest guy. It’s part of the game. I go down there and snap sometimes. But it happens.”
Ortiz said after the game that he felt disrespected by the calls made against him, although he probably doesn’t feel as disrespected as whoever installed the phone.
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