NEW YORK -- Whatever jubiliation David Ortiz felt on the field Thursday night after playing a key role in an 8-3 win that completed Boston’s three-game sweep of the Yankees was not in evidence when he met with reporters after the game.
“You waiting for me?’’ he said. “There will be no questions. Just Big Papi talking, and if you don’t like it, you can get the (expletive) out of here.
“I just want to thank you guys -- not all of you, most of you -- for the stat today of me not getting hit by the Yankees. I finally got hit. Hope you (expletives) are happy. I’m done.’’
Ortiz had not been hit by a pitch in 160 previous games against the Yankees. But Thursday night, after Red Sox starter Josh Beckett hit Derek Jeter (first inning) and Alex Rodriguez (third inning) with pitches, the fourth and fifth batters hit by Sox pitchers in the series (compared with none for the Yankees), Yankees starter CC Sabathia hit Ortiz with a pitch in the fourth inning with one out and Jason Varitek aboard on a walk. The pitch, a fastball, struck Ortiz in the fleshy part of his right thigh.
Ortiz walked slowly to first base, the trace of a smile forming on his lips. Plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt issued a warning to both benches that ejections would follow if he determined that pitchers were deliberately throwing at hitters. Beckett said he was unaffected by the warning.
"Hunter and I had that talk,'' Beckett said. "He told me he wasn't going to take the inside part of the plate away from either one of us. It is what it is. I thought they handled it well. I'm still trying to figure out if David got hit for something I did or if it was something ESPN stirred up.''
After he made his statement, someone asked Ortiz where the pitch hit him.
“I don’t give an (expletive],’’ he said. “I already got hit. It doesn’t matter. Too late. Have a nice night.’’
Then, as he was walking away, he added: “You guys like to criticize us when we (expletive) up. Criticize yourself now.’’
Jeter was seen giving Sabathia a fist bump in the dugout, and Rodriguez gave him a high-five. Asked about it afterward, Sabathia said: "Jete always gives me a pound after a big inning so that’s nothing. I threw a two-seamer and it kind of got away.”
Added Yankees manager Joe Girardi: “We had four or five guys hit this series and I think they had one ... Nobody wants to see their guys get hit, because you risk injury.”