David Ortiz

David Ortiz started off the 2010 campaign very slowly, but that seems to become a trademark start to the year for him. He got off to the same type of start in 2009, but picked it all up and the same pattern carried on in 2010. Big Papi just hit his 31st home-run of the season, but nobody seemed to notice. 

October can't come any sooner for fans of the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers. The American League has little to no excitement on the postseason hunt in September with teams like the Red Sox and White Sox playing for any realistic hope that just isn't there to be had. 

Any discerning Red Sox fan checking in with Gordon Edes' work on ESPNBoston.com was probably surprised to read that the "club is prepared to pick up" their $12.5 million option on David Ortiz.

The Steroid Era has officially left its mark in professional sports while tarnishing the reputation of America's pastime.

With the recent indictment of legendary hurler Roger Clemens, the next generation will be very confused about which players to look up to.

Players like Roger Clemens have forced parents to lie to their Little Leaguers and young baseball stars by telling them their favorite players are stand-up citizens.

The Steroid Era has been around pretty much since the early nineties, a span of about nearly 20 years. With a grueling 162 game regular season plus postseason play, it adds up to playing nearly 200 baseball games if you want to go ahead and count Spring Training. 

The answer is absolutely not.

The Bleacher Report editorial staff asked me my opinion of the designated hitter. Do guys like Vladimir Guerrero of the Texas Rangers and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox help the game, or is their specialization bad for baseball? I consider myself a baseball purist (I dislike artificial turf, 12-man pitching staffs, innings limits, pitch counts, and the Wild Card) but I do like the DH.

David Ortiz struck out three more times yesterday, reminding us that he has truly become an all-or-nothing hitter. 

Ortiz now has 109 whiffs in 340 at-bats this season, which means he's striking out a whopping 32 percent of the time.

The Boston DH's strikeout total is third highest in the AL, behind Austin Jackson (114) and Carlos Pena (111). For the record, the latter two are both position players who make an impact defensively, at least mitigating some of the impact of their frequent strike outs.

He was over the hill. He couldn't hit without Manny behind him. He's older than he lets on. He was on steroids. The injuries got to him. Even some Fenway Faithful began calling him "Big Pop-up." Then, all of a sudden, David Ortiz started to hit again. The past two years have been the toughest in his tenure in Boston, which may be coming to an end. 

On what was a seemingly routine August night in Baltimore in 2008, Red Sox DH David Ortiz dug in to the box. He fouled off an outside fastball, then grabbed his right hand in agony.

It was a battle of the Big Daddies on Friday night at Fenway Park in Boston.

Detroit's animated closer Jose Valverde, or Papa Grande as he's known to Tigers fans, went head-to-head with Red Sox heavy-hitter David Ortiz, who is known as Big Papi in Beantown.

The first half of the 2010 MLB regular season was like stepping into a 1990's time warp - with usual bottom-feeding teams such as the Cincinatti Reds, Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres leading their respective divisions - but the second half promises to bring a dose of reality back to the normal MLB landscape.  However, it is possible that one of those teams can make a run deep into the playoffs and, if everything goes as planned, should be playing in late October.  Just one of the many reasons why the conclusion of the 2010 MLB regular season guarantees to be one