In other sports chances for clutch performances can be garnered through time on the ice, pitch, field or court near the end of games but baseball at-bats are maddeningly infrequent and unpredictable. In fact, Ortiz has been lucky just to be in a position to hit 10 walk-off home runs over the years by virtue of playing for a successful club which regularly CAN put him in such situations to win. The BoSox are likewise fortunate to be one of baseball’s richest clubs and capable of spending to protect Ortiz in the lineup. Successful walk-off threats such as Barry Bonds get less protection on other teams and consequently are simply not pitched to in those situations. For instance, we may never know if Adam Dunn is a clutch player until he is traded from the Reds to a contender.

Instead of sulking or perhaps attributing his shortcomings to others, Ortiz should take a step back, take solace in his amazing clutch accomplishments over the past few years and revel in the fact that he is fortunate enough to have played for a great team which helped him earn his well-deserved clutch reputation.

Where you lose me is with the Ortiz-is-delusional part. I can buy that in the moment he genuinely believes that an umpire has screwed him out of a call. But you’d have to be an intensely delusional person to believe day in and day out that the umpires are out to get you. Obviously he’s frustrated because he puts enormous pressure on himself to not only put up gaudy numbers, but to single-handedly win games with big hits. And that’s really just not a realistic expectation. So his frustration with himself builds and in the moment his frustration explodes, he directs the fury at umpires, because it’s easier to rationalize, like you’ve said.

But I feel like on his own time, and on his own terms, David Ortiz is not delusional enough to blame his lack of clutch performance on the calls the umpires make.