Another note in the “Denton doesn’t know baseball” file, no idea how I missed this from The Gammons‘ chat last week:
alan_in_brighton__Guest: How did surgery go for David Ortiz? Do you think he will be in ’06 shape for this season, or should we expect a solid year like this past season, with a little less home run power?
Peter_Gammons: My guess is that he’ll be fine. And in a lot less pain than he was at times last year. I thought for nearly three months, he was very clear that self confident presence was missing and it was injury related. In the 40 HR range… what’s going to be interesting is going to be how Manny hits with him. Manny rented a house in the Phoenix area and has become a maniacal workout warrior in Tempe Arizona at the Athletes’ Performance Institute (API). From what I’ve heard from people at API, Manny is getting himself into phenomenal shape. And having watched those workouts, I can tell you, they are extremely difficult.
Holy crap. Can you even picture Manny, with all of his natural ability and disciplined hitting workouts, stepping up to the plate in “phenomenal shape?” I hear that and in my mind’s eye I see superhuman moonshot homeruns, a casual flip of the bat and maybe a quick flex, and Manny being greeted by Rachel McAdams at home plate. ‘Cause Rachel is always hanging out in my mind’s eye, you know.
