"For David Ortiz, this may be one of the lasting scars from September's collapse, that the Boston Red Sox clubhouse was portrayed as a place where there were few, if any, leaders to be found.

Worse yet is the idea that it was no different this season.

Understand, then, that Ortiz's first reaction was suspicion when he was asked Monday night, after he'd hit a home run onto Eutaw Street beyond the right-field fence in Camden Yards in an 8-6 Boston victory, about the team meeting he called on May 11, in the midst of the uproar over Josh Beckett's golf game.

"Who told you about that meeting?" he said.