BIG PAPI SMASHES FOUR

PAPI KNOWS

David Ortiz ties a BARB record with four homers in a game; helps keep Riverside above .500 on the young season.

Coming off a dismal 2012 campaign, the Riverside Rum Runners swung offseason deals to acquire Roy Halladay and others in hopes of contending for a 2013 playoff spot.

Things haven’t gone as expected, with an already-short roster felled even more by injuries (including Halladay himself), but in early May Alex Coffman’s ballclub found themselves a game over .500 (16-15) and just four games back in the highly-competitive West division.

But now, with the loss of Halladay and Joel Hanrahan, the fans were waiting for their squad to crash. A glimmer of hope has come in the offense, which has sent runs across with aplomb to float Riverside to a 4-3 record so far in May despite the pitching staff’s 6.16 ERA and 48 runs allowed.

On May 5, David Ortiz put up half of the offense in a 13-9 victory at the Brownsville Cutters. Ortiz smashed home runs in the first, third, fifth and ninth innings for a total of six RBI as the pitchers kept just the right amount of runs off the board in the late innings (all nine Brownsville runs scored in the final three frames) to hold on to victory.

Where does Ortiz’s performance stand in BARB annals? It was the fourth (known) time a player hit four in a game—and the fourth season in a row the feat has been accomplished. Andre Ethier did it in 2010 (with 10 RBI), Mark Teixeira in 2011, Curtis Granderson in 2012 and now Ortiz (the final three all knocked in six runs).

The Rum Runners have the offense to contend—Josh Hamilton launched two bombs against defending champion Pottsylvania two days later—but do they have enough arms to keep the team anywhere near the “W” column? Consider the starting pitchers so far for May:

-Clayton Kershaw (2)

-Scott Downs (2)

-Halladay (1)

-Garrett Richards (1)

-Jason Grilli (1)

Kershaw is, clearly, the ace. He has a 2.45 ERA and 25 strikeouts in his two starts so far this month. But he has also been used in relief once and may be filling in there more. Downs and Grilli are relievers, through and through. Halladay is hurt. Richards has the stamina to start but is more effective in short stints out of the ‘pen.

Where does Riverside go from here? They’ll clearly need to make a move and pick up depth if they have any hopes of contending. They have Zack Greinke returning in mid-May, as well as a dynamite offense, but two pitchers do not a pitching staff make…