Mister October

World Series glance WEDNESDAY’S GAME Boston 8, St. Louis 1 THURSDAY’S GAME St. Louis 4, Boston 2 SATURDAY’S GAME Boston at St. Louis, (n),

Series tied 1-1 TODAY’S GAME All times Central Boston (Buchholz 12-1) at St. Louis (Lynn 15-10), 7:15 p.m.

MONDAY’S GAME Boston at St. Louis, 7:07 p.m.

WEDNESDAY’S GAME x-St. Louis at Boston, 7:07 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCT. 31 x-St. Louis at Boston, 7:07 p.m.

x-if necessary All games televised by Fox

ST. LOUIS - Even if you hardly ever watch a baseball game, if the only games you’ve seen this season were the first two of this year’s World Series, there’s one thing that should immediately stand out.

There’s something special about Boston’s David Ortiz.

This is his time of year. Ortiz has hit two home runs in the first two games of the World Series and has been called out of the dugout for two curtain calls by the fans at Fenway Park. He was robbed of a third home run - a grand slam, no less - when the Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran reached over the wall in right field to pull back another Ortiz blast.He’s hit five home runs this postseason and has 17 in his career, which puts him two ahead of Babe Ruth (who hit his in 53 fewer games) and tied for seventh most all-time. This is Ortiz’s third World Series, and he has a career .382 average and 1.241 OPS in them. In all rounds of the postseason, he’s hitting .281 with a .929 OPS.

It’s October, and no one playing today owns that month quite like Big Papi.

Ortiz held court for a handful of writers in the Red Sox’ dugout after the team’s workout Friday at Busch Stadium, talking about hitting, hitting in October, how hard it is to hit pitching nowadays and the challenge that he faces, namely playing first base, something he’s done just 25 times in the past six seasons while he’s been one of the game’s pre-eminent designated hitters. All the while he oozed the charisma that’s made him the superstar he is in Boston.

“He’s got that smile that draws everybody to him,” Red Sox catcher David Ross said. “He’s got more of a warmth than you realize. He genuinely cares for all of us. I’ve been around superstars in my day when they’re in the league that long - he’s won two World Series - some are over the daily grind. He’s getting to know new guys, he takes us in, invites us tohis house, he wants to hang out on the road. He’s always talking hitting, and when you talk hitting with a guy like that, it’s special. Your ears perk up. You just listen and take notice. He’s that guy, a quiet leader who does a phenomenal job of never giving away an at-bat on a daily basis.”

When the subject of October hitting comes up, it comes through that it means a good deal to Ortiz and that it’s something he pays special attention to.

“Coming up, at the beginning of my career, I pretty much always heard playerstalk about special players, players that put up monster numbers in the regular season but when it comes down to the playoffs, they never show up,” he said. “Pretty much since I came here to play in Boston, we started going to the playoffs. You start preparing yourself mentally and physically to play, not just through the season but to play through October. Once we get to October, I don’t know if it’s because I’m a DH, I’m not tired at all. I feel good. I keep up with the things I normally do in regular season. I’m not trying to put pressure on myself or trying to overdo things.

“October is special, man. Every player brings everything they have at this point, even if it doesn’t go your way. You see the guys trying hard again. I’m not going to lie. A lot of us put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and that works against you. From tight situations, there are some moments you’ve got to execute. If you put pressure on yourself, it doesn’t work that way.”

Ortiz was asked about how he’s able to not put pressure on himself, and he jokingly, or maybe not jokingly, suggested that years of playing winter ball in his native Dominican Republic made him used to it.

This season, he single-handedly swung the momentum in the American League championship series with his grand slam in Game 2, turning a game where the Red Sox were being no-hit into a series-tying win. He put the Red Sox ahead 2-1 on Thursday night with his home run, which came, he said, on the only mistake Michael Wacha made all night. (“That kid’s a stud,” Ortiz said.) Blasts like that have earned him the nickname Señor Octubre.

“That ain’t me,” he laughed. “They must be talking about Reggie Jackson. If people want to call you whatever, I appreciate it. I’m just another guy that came to play the game and try to keep it simple.”

Since the designated hitter isn’t used in National League parks in the World Series, if manager John Farrell wants to keep Ortiz in the lineup, he has to use him at first base, a position he has seldom played. (Ortiz has played at first 250 times in a 17-year big-league career.) He joked that his range extends just a few inches from the edge of his body. In interleague play this year, Farrell never used Ortiz in the field in three consecutive games. To do so would probably put astrain on Ortiz’s 37-year-old body. He doesn’t care. “This is the World Series,” he said. “There’s no tomorrow in the World Series. If I have to play 10 in a row, I will. If he asks me (to play), I’d have to be dead to say no.”

The way Ortiz plays is special, and he knows that this time of year is special. He seems to have lost none of his enthusiasm when it comes to baseball at this time of year. Having already won two World Series hasn’t changed anything either.

“It’s hard to get to October, man,” Ortiz said, “especially in the division we play. Playing in October is the greatest thing to do. Once you’re here, it’s like a dream come true. I’m here today.”