Could Big Papi’s grand slam in last night’s 11-3 Boston Red Sox win break him out of his slump? Ortiz talked about it after the game

“These past few days since I came back after I had the day off (last Sunday against the Yankees at Fenway), I’ve been getting that feeling, that feeling of using my hands, working on my mechanics,” Ortiz told WRKO after finishing last night with two hits and five RBI.

“Even sometimes you have a good swing and you don’t get what you want. I never kill my confidence. I always stay focused on coming the next day and work hard, on whatever I have to work, and do whatever I have to work on and go back out there.

“It’s an early season. Everybody talks about how you start the season. But I don’t think it’s about how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Big Papi as he is the leader of this time. If he’s smiling, all of the team is smiling. And with Manny on his hot streak right now, if Big Papi is hitting, they will have to pitch to Manny. If you missed the reaction by his teammates in the dugout after his grand slam, I’ve got video goodness for you here. Let’s just say while the temperature was warm outside it was cold in the dugout.

Don’t forget that tonight’s game will be on the NESN Plus channel. The Boston Red Sox pre-game show will get under way at 5:30 PM before giving way to the Bruins pre-game show at 6:30.

Keep reading for more notes plus some video goodness from Big Papi’s reaction to a Lowrie strikeout and Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz having fun with the robotic camera.

David Murphy and Kason Gabbard both received their playoff shares and World Series rings before the game yesterday.

Jed Lowrie has had a good start in his first go-around with the Red Sox, even prompting cries of benching Julio Lugo. First base coach Luis Alicea. who was Lowrie’s manager in Lowell, sees him as third baseman in the future. Lowrie was a second baseman in college at Stanford and played their in the minors until a couple of years ago when he moved to shortstop. Last year was his first full year at short.

“When I got him [in 2005 in short-season Lowell], he was mostly a second baseman and he played very well,” Alicea said of the former sandwich pick. “I’ve seen him play from spring training on at short and he’s got some issues on certain balls that he’s not comfortable on, because last year was his first year completely playing shortstop. Now in the spring he picked up third base very well. Although he hasn’t played for a long time, he has done a very good job.

“I think he has the arm strength to play third base and I think it could probably end up being a better position for him.”

“Defensively, there are times when he can be a little high,” Alicea said. “His base, we would like him to be a little wider, but he’s got the arm strength to play all three of them. He’s shown it already.”

The Red Sox have 9 errors on the season, 6 of them are by Lugo.

Check out Big Papi’s reaction to Lowrie’s strikeout in the 8th inning plus see what Josh Beckett was doing during it. Also in the clip is Lester and Buchholz having fun with the robotic camera plus another moment from Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out Dallas Morning News and Star-Telegram websites.