Watch David Ortiz predict his home run vs. the Yankees
[fragment number=0]If David Ortiz is to believed, the Fenway Faithful could be cheering him for years — and years — to come. The veteran Red Sox slugger gave everyone a reason to trust in his powers of prognostication before the team’s 2-1 win over the rival Yankees on Wednesday night.
“I like ESPN games because I go deep everytime I’m on ESPN,’’ Ortiz said before the nationally televised game.
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In the fourth inning, Ortiz went on to crush a 441-foot homer deep into the right field bleachers that gave the Sox a 2-0 lead.
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After a horrendous start to the season, Ortiz now leads the team in homers (21), RBIs (60), and OPS (.806).
“You know how it is with myself,’’ Ortiz told WEEI.com’s John Tomase at Yankee Stadium. “Whenever I have a slow start, or things aren’t going my way, people start criticizing and saying things. But I guess that’s how it’s going to be. I can put up with that.
“I know what I’m capable of doing. Could we end up a different way? People always think when you talk about contracts you’re getting greedy about it, but I’m the guy that’s always carried this ballclub and put up numbers, you know what I’m saying?’’
And it looks like Ortiz will be trying to put up up big numbers for at least another year, and maybe 10 more.
“I’m confident in myself, because I have put a lot of dedication into it,’’ Ortiz told Tomase. “I try to stay in good shape. It’s all up in your mind. That’s what I say. If you take care of yourself and do what you have to do, you can play at the age of 50. Just ask Julio Franco.’’
Franco was 49 when he took his last at-bat in the majors, but close enough.
Ortiz will turn 40 in November and needs only 10 more plate appearances to guarantee his $11-million option for the 2016 season, with incentives possibly pushing his salary to $16 million.
“I earned it,’’ Ortiz said. “That’s why I’m playing next year. Because I earned it.’’
Not only did Ortiz earn it in Wednesday night’s win in the Bronx, but he also called his home run No. 21 before the game.
The walkoff hits of David Ortiz:
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