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David Ortiz: ‘I enjoy baseball now. What a difference.’ 03.03.11 at 4:15 pm ET
By WEEI

David Ortiz is 'mind is free' for the first time in quite a while. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Speaking prior to the Red Sox’ spring training game against the Phillies Thursday at City of Palms Park Thursday, David Ortiz explained that a big reason for his early success is that his “mind is free right now.” The Sox’ designated hitter went on to explain that he prioritized taking care of “personal stuff” in the offseason so that nothing would be a distraction heading into 2011.

“I haven’t felt like this for a while,” he told WEEI.com. “There were a lot of things that I had to correct, and I did in the offseason.

“It wasn’t anything related to baseball. When you’re playing baseball you can’t be thinking about some other things. Baseball is a very complicated business so you have to make sure your mind is clear so you can think about what you’re doing. So this offseason I tried to fix everything that I could think of.”

Ortiz, who came into Thursday’s game having gone 5-for-8 with a home run but went 0-for-3 against the Phillies, wouldn’t specify what alterations he made in the offseason, simply saying, “I just needed to dedicate time to it. By the time I got to Fort Myers I had peace of mind.”

The DH explained that he has continued to be distraction-free, noting while talking that he didn’t even have his cell phone near him, a departure from his usual morning clubhouse routine.

“I can enjoy baseball now. What a difference,” he said. “I don’t even have my cell phone with me. That’s your No. 1 enemy, your cell phone.

“People sometimes don’t realize we have another life outside of baseball, and that life needs to be taken care of. You have family, you have kids, you have friends. A lot of stuff.

“In a situation like ours sometimes you don’t pay attention to little things and they accumulate slowly. It’s like when you have a car and the mirror breaks. You say you’ll fix that later. Then the window breaks, and you say I’ll fix that later. Then the next thing you know, the engine is screwed up. Next thing you know you have 20 things to fix at once, but you don’t have time to fix all 20 things. You’ve been accumulating things for years and then next thing you know you’ve got all that on top of you. Then people look at you and it seems you have a big old monkey on your back. Not anymore.”

For more spring training coverage, see the Red Sox team page at weei.com/redsox.

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  • Peter Fay

    Ortiz waxing philosophic…I like it. Papi’s going to have a monster year!

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  • Anonymous

     ”they won a game they probably didn’t deserve to win”

    How do you figure that?!? The Bruins “probably” should have won game two does that count?

    Go back to the basement and leave your hate down there.

  • M16

     Hurts to be slapped like b1tches on home ice? I feel ya

  • Billy O’Brien

    All I know is that Alzner is gonna get beat down by Lucic at some point this series

  • Billy O’Brien

    Put down the crack pipe. They should be up 3-0. 

  • Billy O’Brien

    Yes they are. I cant wait until Lucic beats Alzner’s face in 

  • Bruinman86

     I would sit Lucic long before I would Marchand.  Lucic did little on the scoreboard and basically could keep his cool all night.  The Bruins are really lucky they were able to score 4 on 4 after Lucic got a double minor while they were on the powerplay.  His final stat line is no points, 8 penalty minutes. As for Marchand, until the league cracks down on diving, guys are going to continue to do it. Especially if their team gets a powerplay out of it.

  • mg

    Set down tippy toes Seguin and play Caron. Seguin is showing he is a liteweight along the boards.

  • ILoveHockey

    Lucic might have done the most important thing in the game- lite some emotion in a series that was seriously lacking it. Alzner is now this series Burrows- apparently he did not watch the Vancouver series last year

    You could bench a lot of people most of the team is underachieving – that is why they only scored a goal a game until last night.

    Chara took a penalty that lead to a goal, then let his guy get 40 ft behind him- that cost another goal- not saying bench chara- just saying everybody has sucked

    Is Krecji hurt? he doesn’t seem to be up to full speed out there and is constently on his butt on the ice- losing edges, falling on every hit he takes. He might be trying to play through something

  • Bruinman86

     I really didn’t want to bench anyone.  i was just making a point about Marchand not being the worst player out there for the B’s last night. As for Chara, at least he made up for it by scoring the game winner.  The B’s have been sloppy all series.  Even if they get by Washington (which I expect them to in 6), I think they can’t play this way and expect to beat a Rangers team in a 7 game series. 

  • Bruinman86

     I really didn’t want to bench anyone.  i was just making a point about Marchand not being the worst player out there for the B’s last night. As for Chara, at least he made up for it by scoring the game winner.  The B’s have been sloppy all series.  Even if they get by Washington (which I expect them to in 6), I think they can’t play this way and expect to beat a Rangers team in a 7 game series. 

  • Joe33

    It’s amazing how the Caps don’t just keep tossing the puck past Chara at the point. They beat him every time they do it. It led to their 2nd and 3rd goals, not to mention at least 3 nullified icings. Lurch is just too slow to get back.

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