Most teams have inferior bullpen, and only bring in their closer for the 9th. Meanwhile, you can make a case that most starters are better than most relievers (otherwise they woudl be starting). ARod rises to the challenege against superior pitching (starting pitching, ergo his early HRs) while Ortiz has to wait till its late innings when they bring out the inferior pitchers. So why does Ortiz seemingly have so much more energy than other hitters at that stage in the game? Simple, he doesn't play the field. He sits on the bench and gets up 4 or 5 times a game. ARod has to go through a 2 or 3 hour marathon, can u blame him if he's a little tired by the 8th, as is everyone else except the DH? ARod does better against superior starting pitching, gets tired against the suck ass relievers because he has to play one fo the hardest positions in baseball ("the hot spot"), while Ortiz only has late game heroics because thats when inferior pitching comes out to play and he is energized due to his not having to do anything involved with playing defense.
ok well thats hould get some responses