Ortiz Awarded Single, Apologizes For Rant
BOSTON (CBS) -- In the end, David Ortiz got his single.
And now he's sorry.
Five days after Ortiz spouted off over Fenway Park official scorer Bob Ellis' ruling that the Sox' slugger reached on an error by Twins first baseman Joe Mauer, the team announced that Ellis has reversed the call and awarded Ortiz a base hit. Ellis made the change before Major League Baseball was able to exercised its normal protocol for reviewing a scorer's decision.
Ortiz said he was happy to have another base-knock to his name in what has become a frustrating season, but he is sorry with how the situation blew up following his mini-rant after last Wednesday's extra-innings victory.
"I don't want people to think every time I come up with something, I'm showing somebody up," Ortiz said Monday, according to ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes. "I owe an apology to MLB, Joe Torre, even the scorekeeper."
Torre, now an executive in MLB, issued a statement last Friday expressing his disappointment in Ortiz.
"Everyone in our game deserves respect. I hope that David will meet that standard going forward, because I don't share the same views that he expressed," Torre said in a statement. "Official scorers should never give any benefit of the doubt to the home team."
Though Ortiz has complained about scorers in the past, most notably in 2011 when he stormed into a Terry Francona press conference over an RBI, on Monday he said he's not someone who does that very often.
"I'm not the type of person that likes to complain," Ortiz said. "I'm an emotional guy, and whenever you see me come out like that, there's some history behind it. I don't do it just to do it"
Ortiz, who hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 10th inning in that game, is batting .255 for the season but just .235 in June. He said sounding off in the locker room last week was frustrating from the season boiling over.
"Bottom line, man, there's been a lot of frustration this year, you know? When you're in a situation you're grinding and get a hit, then things like that happen [the play being scored an error], and then the questions come, that's where the frustration comes popping out," he said. "It shouldn't be like that. I understand that. That's why I feel like I've got to apologize for things coming out that way."
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