David Ortiz Runs Into Ninth-Inning Trouble, Takes It in Stride

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- David Ortiz will be part of an All-Star highlight clip for close to forever.

On first base with one out and the AL down 3-1 in the ninth inning Tuesday, Ortiz tried to make it to second base on a single to right by John Buck.

He didn't. Marlon Byrd's strong throw to shortstop Rafael Furcal just beat Ortiz, snuffing out the American League's last chance at a comeback as the NL ended a streak of 13 winless games against the AL.

"I was in the wrong place. It was the wrong time. And it was the wrong guy, too," Ortiz said with a laugh after that most rare of plays, a force out at second base initiated by an outfielder.

Only one time in the 81-game history of the All-Star Game had it happened before Tuesday, when the Tigers' Al Kaline threw out the Reds' Frank Robinson in 1957.



Share Ortiz is many things, but a speed burner he is not. However, American League skipper Joe Girardi had managed himself into a bit of a bind. He had one unused player left, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, and he would have used A-Rod -- if Ortiz had been the tying run. Because the tying run was still at the plate in the person of Buck, Ortiz remained the runner.

"We were talking about pinch-running [Rodriguez] in a situation," Girardi said. "We also had a little issue with [third baseman Adrian] Beltre and we were concerned about his hamstring, so if we get the tying run on, Al was going to pinch-run and then go in [for Beltre]."

National League manager Charlie Manuel of the Phillies expected to see Rodriguez, too, but as a pinch-hitter, not a pinch-runner.

"I definitely was looking for him," Manuel said. "He's one of the better hitters in the game, if not the best. That was going through my mind."

"He just got the ball to second base before me. I'm not that fast."
- David Ortiz Ortiz said he didn't realize until the media brought it up that Rodriguez was still available to run. And he said that he would have expected to get lifted for a pinch-runner, although not necessarily with one out.

The ball was hit between second baseman Brandon Phillips and Byrd, and it seemed at least early on that Byrd would make the catch.

"I saw how deep he was playing," Ortiz said. "I thought at first that he would catch the ball. But he didn't. He just got the ball to second base before me. I'm not that fast. That's the kind of thing that can happen in an All-Star Game."

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Rodriguez said he was healthy and able to run, if that was what was needed.

"I was ready to go," he said. "It was just up to [Girardi] about what situation to put me in. Sitting out there for three hours, Joe probably thought it was just best not to use me unless he really needed me.

"I was ready. I was ready. He must have wanted me to hit [instead]."

With the American League loss, the National League will be the home team for the first, second, sixth and seventh games of the World Series. It's the first time since baseball went to awarding the World Series home-field advantage to the league of the All-Star Game winner that the National League had won.

Ortiz said he doesn't fear for his team, the Red Sox, or for his league.

"It was 13 games [the NL] didn't win," he said. "People don't realize that's a quality major league baseball team over there. The home-field advantage isn't a big deal to me as long as they still have airplanes [to make the travel easy]."

Rodriguez said much the same.

"I had a feeling that at some point it was going to end," he said, "especially as much you guys ask about it, I knew deep down it might come to an end. Thirteen in a row is a great streak."