Mammoth Blog

As David Ortiz(notes) continues to struggle, support is coming in the form of text messages from players all around Major League Baseball and not just his Boston Red Sox teammates, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

The Globe reported that when Ortiz checked his phone after Sunday night's game, he found "50 to 70 messages, text messages," from players around the league.
They came from Ryan Howard(notes) in Philadelphia and Carlos Delgado(notes) and Alex Cora(notes) in New York, among others. The messages all had the same tone: Don't give up.

"Everybody," Ortiz said. "Just telling me, you know how good you are and how good you can be. Things aren't always going to be flowers and roses. We learn from our mistakes and what doesn't break you makes you stronger. So don't listen to any of the crap that people have to say. You've done a whole bunch of things to get it done, and you're going to get it done again.''

Ortiz, who went 0 for 3 in last night's 4-3 victory over the Angels, has gone 133 at-bats (dating to Sept. 22) without a homer, the second-longest stretch of his career. The longest, 145 at-bats, came from Sept. 9, 1998 to June 9, 2000, with the Twins. source>>>