Ay Papi!

Not that I'm complaining, but what the hell is going on with David Ortiz? He hasn't hit one out in 142-plate appearances this year. The last time he hit a home run was in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Rays, in October, or about forever and a day in baseball parlance. Ortiz is suffering through a power outage that would make Enron (and Mark Teixiera) turn away in horror. Although it's far from time to report Big Papi's demise, it doesn't look good for the anointed "Greatest Clutch Hitter in the History of the Red Sox."

Yahoo! Sports' Gordon Edes crunched the numbers. The results aren't pretty, Sox fans:  

His performance at this stage resembles another large-bodied first baseman, Cecil Fielder, who at age 33 in 1997 hit three home runs in his first 201 at-bats and finished the season with 13 home runs in 98 games for the Yankees. A year later, after hitting 17, Fielder’s big-league career was over.

Since 1954, there have been 19 players who have hit 50 home runs in a season, including Ortiz, who hit a career-high 54 in 2006. Of those 19, only one, Greg Vaughn, went longer at the start of a season than Ortiz without a home run. Vaughn, who hit 50 for the San Diego Padres in 1998, went the first 37 games in 2002 for the Tampa Bay Rays without a home run. On May 18, on his 159th plate appearance and 133rd at-bat, he finally connected, and later hit another homer in the same game.

Vaughn, 36 that season, wound up batting .163 with eight home runs, and retired a year later. 

To add insult to injury, the maniacs at It is High... compiled a list of current Red Sox players who have yet to hit a home run this season. 

Tim Wakefield
Jonathan Papelbon
Jon Lester
Ramon Ramirez
Javier Lopez
Manny Delacarmen
Josh Becket
Takashi Saito
Hideki Okajima
Brad Penny
David Ortiz

All kidding aside, though, Edes also points out that Ortiz is the only 50-homer hitter to go this long into the season without hitting a homer, including Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez, two guys often accused of using performance-enhancing drugs during their respective 50-home run seasons. Like it or not, Ortiz's out-of-nowhere, four-year home run production, from 2003 to 2007, certainly raises more than a few eyebrows, especially following the recent A-Rod and Manny revelations. Personally, though, I'm more inclined to say Ortiz is just getting old, and is still dealing with the lingering effects of debilitating knees and wrist injuries, which could also explain his drastic drop in bat speed. Perhaps I'm being too generous. Maybe I'm still being naive. Either way, Ortiz is no longer producing terrifyingly high offensive numbers, which is fine by me.