Whoever called the pitch should be more accountable than whoever threw it. Trevor Hoffman may not have been able to get his HOF change by Ortiz there.
Much has been made about Ortiz' diminished skills. He didn't suddenly time travel back to 2004. He is the same hitter with the same bat speed from April and May, he has just made a couple of adjustments to his pitch selection and approach. This has allowed him flip a couple into the stands at Fenway, only one of which was "well hit" (y'know, Adam Dunn-style). But the one thing that had him failing before was guessing on fastballs. Stammen needed to continue to pitch the fastball low and away, where Ortiz' slow bat would have no choice but to defend. The changeup gave him a chance to attack, which he did with his first road bomb of the season. It was arguably the best ball Ortiz has hit all season, and all the more reason to believe it was a horrible, horrible mistake.
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