These Stars Hoping for Redemption Song

David Ortiz used the "Risky Business" approach to turn his year around.

As in, "Sometimes, you've got to say, 'What the [heck]."

Ortiz, who at the end of May was hitting .185 with one homer for the Red Sox, finished the season with 28 home runs and 99 RBI. Still, he hit just .238 with his lowest OPS (.794 -- .332 on-base percentage and .462 slugging percentage) other than his 10-game callup with the 1999 Twins.

Big Papi is one of a number of players who can wipe out the memory of a disappointing regular season with a big October.

Others include Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins and Brad Lidge, St. Louis' Rick Ankiel, Angels right-hander Ervin Santana, Colorado's Garrett Atkins, the Yankees' Joba Chamberlain and the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez, Russell Martin and Rafael Furcal.

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"People were calling for David to retire, pack it in," Red Sox manager Terry Francona recently said of Ortiz. "There was a lot of nasty things said about him. And he had a really bad two months."

Francona moved Ortiz down from third in the order to sixth in late May and has kept him mostly in the No. 5 spot since mid-June.

Sometime around then -- Ortiz couldn't remember when -- hitting coach Dave Magadan advised Ortiz to stop thinking too much and "just go see the ball and hit it," as Ortiz put it.

"One day I woke up," Ortiz said, "I went, 'OK, I guess I've got nothing to lose any more. I'm way behind when I'm usually used to.' So I go, '[Screw] it. Today I'm not going to do [anything], just like I'm in Little League.' In Little League you don't do [anything], basically. You just go play baseball, that's it."

And that, he said, is how he found his swing. It was all "up here" in his head, and as his average sank, he worked harder and harder, and it just caused him to spiral down.

"I guess I was worried about that [pre-game work] more than the ballgame," Ortiz said. "You want to get so ready and so prepared, and then when the game comes, there's nothing there."

He does have a strong postseason track record which he can fall back on for confidence. In 63 playoff games, he has batted .293 with 12 homers and 47 RBI. (Although in 11 games last year he hit only .186 with five RBI.)

Others who can redeem themselves in the next few weeks:

• Ramirez: Ortiz's former tag-team partner missed 50 games because of a PED suspension and when he did play averaged an RBI every 5.6 at-bats -- his worst ratio since 1997.

But as Ramirez showed last year, he can dominate a postseason. He does that again, and Dodgers fans will forget the PED thing and shower him with love.

Oh, wait, they already have.


• Lidge: He's the ninth closer to blow 11 or more saves and get a chance in the playoffs. But of the previous eight -- Huston Street ('06 A's), Norm Charlton ('97 Mariners), Mitch Williams ('89 Cubs), Duane Ward ('89 Blue Jays), Dan Quisenberry ('85 Royals), Goose Gossage ('84 Padres), Mike Marshall ('74 Dodgers) and Ron Perranoski ('69 Twins) -- only Quisenberry was able to win the World Series.

Four of the other seven went out in their first series, and those eight pitchers combined for a 4.14 ERA in those postseasons.

So Lidge has to buck the trend.

• Rollins: The 2007 NL MVP hit just .250 this year, with a .296 on-base percentage and .719 OPS. He has been slightly better (.272 average) since the All-Star break, but not much.

But if Rollins gets going in front of Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, the Philly offense could bust out and there could be the first repeat World Series winner from the NL since the 1975-76 Reds.

• Santana: Maybe it's just an even/odd thing; his win totals since 2006: 16, 7, 16, 8. Santana this year had a 5.10 ERA and allowed 24 homers in 137 2/3 innings.

So he's going to get bumped to the bullpen in the playoffs, and that may not be a bad thing. He threw 5 1/3 decent innings against the Yankees in Game 5 of the 2005 American League Division Series after starter Bartolo Colon left with a shoulder injury, getting the win. His only other postseason relief appearance was in the 2007 ALDS, when he worked two scoreless innings in Boston.

• Martin: His .680 OPS is lowest of any NL regular in the playoffs, and somehow he slugged just .329.

Maybe that was a continuation of his 2008 NLCS, when Martin went 2-for-17 with one RBI in five games against the Phillies.

So he has a lot to (im)prove.

• Ankiel: Not that the postseason brings back great memories for him; Ankiel's meltdown in the 2000 playoffs as a pitcher (nine wild pitches) led to his conversion to the outfield.

A potential free agent, Ankiel's OPS this year was .672 -- down from .843 in 2008. This will be his first playoffs as an outfielder, since he was hurt in 2006.

• Atkins: He hit a measly .226 this year, falling into a platoon at third base with Ian Stewart. But with the Rockies set to face the Phillies, he should get a shot against lefties Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ.

When Colorado went to the World Series two years ago, Atkins hit just .175 in 46 postseason at-bats, with three RBI.