Now that David Price has joined the Boston Red Sox, he and David Ortiz have buried the hatchet, after two years of acrimonious sniping at each other.
On Monday morning, Ortiz entered the clubhouse and gave a Price a hug, asserting, “I got your back.”
In Game 2 of the 2013 ALDS between the Red Sox Tampa Bay Rays, Ortiz clubbed two home runs off of Price. When Ortiz struck the second home run, in the eighth inning, the ball wound around the right field pole. Ortiz stood at home plate to see if the ball would stay fair.
Price took umbrage, saying later, “He knows how I’ve pitched him for the last probably year-and-a-half, two years. So he steps in the bucket and hits a homer. And he stares at it to see if it’s fair or foul, I’m sure that’s what he would say, but as soon as he hit it and I saw it I knew it was fair. Run.”
Price’s girlfriend, Tiffany Nicole, tweeted, “Wow he pimped the crap out of that homerun. #KeepItClassyBoston.”
The first time the two teams met in 2014, Price drilled Ortiz in the back with a fastball, prompting Ortiz to blast:
He knows he screwed up. He did that on his own. No manager was [telling] him. No player was comfortable with the situation. He did that on his own, which is bulls—t, he can get somebody else hurt. You can’t be doing that [expletive] … First at-bat of the season against him, he drilled me. That’s means it’s a war. It’s on. Next time he hits me, he better bring the gloves on. I have no respect for him no more. You can’t be acting like a little girl out there all the time, you give it up, that’s an experience for the next time, but you gonna be acting like a little bitch, every time you give it up, bounce back like that and put your teammates in jeopardy… oh yeah, I was going to let him know… I respect everybody in this league, and I get a certain respect from everybody. If you’re mad because I take you deep twice, I’m gonna let you know. I got almost 500 homers in this league, that’s part of the game son.
Price responded, “Nobody is bigger than the game of baseball, and sometimes the way he acts out there, he kind of looks like he’s bigger than the game of baseball. That’s not the way it is. That’s not the way it goes … We have troops, men and women that are fighting for our freedom, making sure we stay safe and could be prepared for a real war. That’s not acceptable. This is not a war, by no means. This is a game we play.”
But now, all is buttercups and roses for the erstwhile enemies; Price enthused to MLB.com, “I’m ready to be his teammate and his friend. That’s what I’m looking forward to. I want to be accepted by all my teammates, and that’s something you need to have if you want to get to where you need to be.”