Ortiz hospitalized after heart palpitations

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By Roger Rubin
New York Daily News
(MCT)
NEW YORK - The New York Yankees enjoy seeing the rival Red Sox struggle, as they have for the past two weeks. Off the field it's a different story, which is why there was concern among the Yankees over Boston's latest major problem.
David Ortiz, sent home from the West Coast trip because he experienced heart palpitations, Tuesday night was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital for further tests. The MVP candidate will not play again until he's been examined and cleared by doctors. Red Sox officials said the tests on Ortiz will take a few days.
"It's never comforting to know a player has a physical problem, even if we are competing with them for the East," Joe Torre said. "Certainly I like the fact that he's not playing but I don't like the fact that he's not playing for that reason."
Ortiz, batting .287 with a league-leading 47 homers and 121 RBI, was hospitalized overnight with the same condition Aug. 19 after the Sox suffered the third of five straight losses to the Bombers. It was attributed to stress and dehydration and Ortiz returned to play on Aug. 20.
"We really don't feel he's going to keel over," manager Terry Francona said before last night's game at Oakland. "He was tested the other night. A lot of people have these things. He has to know that he is fine. We're not going to jeopardize his health."
The former Bosox on the Yankees feel for their ex-teammate.
"I'm just hoping David's all right," said Johnny Damon, who spent the previous four seasons playing for Boston. "I haven't had the opportunity to call him yet, but I just hope it's nothing serious. Obviously me and him are great friends. We did some great things together.
"We're friends for life. I got to see him become a superstar. He got to see me become better."
"David had not experienced any additional episodes of palpitations until Monday evening," team physician Thomas Gill said in a statement. With the recurrence of these symptoms, we would like David to be fully examined and tested before he is allowed to return to the field."
It is the most devastating blow to the Red Sox in a series of setbacks during the past five weeks. That the Red Sox are now shopping lefty David Wells, according to the Boston Globe, may be the bellwether that they have resigned themselves to missing the playoffs.
"Obviously we went into Boston and showed them where our team was," Damon said. "We went in and played well. They didn't quite have the depth they would have liked as far as pitching and the bench like we could. We went in and we were able to rest players certain games. Now they have Manny (Ramirez) out, Big Papi out. . . . That's pretty big."
The loss of Ortiz will hurt the Red Sox on the field and in the clubhouse. During the Yankees' five-game sweep at Fenway Park Aug. 18-21, he volunteered to be the face of the team and discuss its problems while other players did not.
"He's very important in that clubhouse," said Mike Myers, who also came over from the Sox during the offseason. "You can't ignore his numbers and all he does for the team. And within the clubhouse when I was there . . . he was one of the best personalities to have."
Ramirez has missed six straight games with an injured right knee and Wily Mo Pena has missed the last four games with pain in his left wrist. Before losing 2-1 to Oakland last night, the Red Sox sent both players home from Oakland for tests.
Boston's Jason Varitek (knee), Trot Nixon (biceps) and Tim Wakefield (ribs) are on the disabled list. The Sox may very well be done. With last night's loss, the Red Sox are now 7 1/2 games behind the Yanks in the AL East and 6 1/2 games off the pace for the wild card. Losing Ortiz may be the final straw.
 
That could be the last straw for the '06 Sox. They've just about disappeared off the wild card radar.
 
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