enlarge Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer

Fans enter Hadlock Field for the Sea Dogs game, featuring the first of three planned appearances by Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. Some fans came early to watch Ortiz take batting practice, but rain forced him to take his swings indoors.

enlarge Tim Greenway/Staff Photographer

There were hugs and smiles all around Monday with Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, right, in Portland for the first of three games with the Sea Dogs. Ortiz hugs Griffin Tewksbury, 17, son of former major league pitcher Bob Tewksbury, who is now the sports psychology coach for the Red Sox.

Near the end of the game, fans stood at the fence near Fitzpatrick Stadium, waiting for him to come out of the back door of the Portland Sea Dogs clubhouse at Hadlock Field.

Waiting for Papi.

David Ortiz, 32, the Boston Red Sox slugger who wows fans with his magnetic personality and his clutch home runs, brought his mighty swing to Hadlock Field on Monday.

"I just want to see him again," said Max Grover, 19, of Monmouth.

Grover, like the others, was getting greedy. They already saw Ortiz come into Hadlock. And they saw him bat four times, recording two singles and a walk in an 8-2 victory.

But the cheering never seemed to stop.

"Just to see him walk out there, onto Hadlock Field, in a Sea Dogs uniform," Grover said, as he and others waited for Ortiz to jump into a Cadillac Escalade parked outside the clubhouse.

That Escalade motored through the gate around 3 p.m. Fans gathered then, too, hoping for autographs. They had to settle for a wave.

And a smile, of course.

Ortiz came to Portland as part of his rehabilitation assignment as he recovers from an injured wrist. Big Papi is scheduled to play games today and Wednesday before rejoining the Red Sox in Boston on Friday.

When it was announced that Ortiz might come to Hadlock, the games sold out quickly. Many of those fans arrived early, hoping to see Ortiz taking batting practice.

But rain canceled practice on the field, and Ortiz took his swings in the solitude of the indoor batting cage.

Fans crowded around the home dugout before the game, hoping for a prized autograph. At 6:40 p.m., 20 minutes before the game, Ortiz popped out of the clubhouse door in right field and the cheers began.

Ortiz, who spoke earlier with the media, understands the attention.

"Sometimes, getting in Fenway is kind of tough," he said. "Sometimes, when you get to see one of your players close to your house ... let's say in your backyard ... "

Ortiz gestured to the field as he spoke.

"All around the East Coast, fans follow our team. Sometimes, I know a lot of people around this area don't get to go to Fenway.

"Of course (I) don't want to come down here, because, obviously, it's because of an injury.

"But it's fun."

Ortiz was not the only one having fun.

As he talked to the media, Portland Sea Dogs reliever Beau Vaughan mixed in with the reporters, wearing a button-down shirt and pretending to write notes on a card.

Vaughan borrowed glasses from a teammate (Chad Rhoades) and had another (Jorge Jimenez) translate a question for him in Spanish. Vaughan did not ask his question but followed Ortiz into the clubhouse and got his attention.

Ortiz thought Vaughan was a reporter and looked puzzled when Vaughan asked him, in Spanish, whether he ever bats right-handed.

"He just froze," Vaughan said.

Then the clubhouse erupted in laughter as Ortiz caught on to who Vaughan was.

Besides enjoying the jokes and the experience of playing with Ortiz, the Sea Dogs players benefited in another way. As tradition calls for, a rehabilitating major league player pays for the postgame meal – "the spread" – in the clubhouse.

Working through Sea Dogs clubhouse manager Craig Candage, Ortiz ordered shrimp scampi and prime rib from Bingas Wingas.

Today's menu calls for lobster.

And, today, Hadlock fans will get to see more.

On Monday, Ortiz got a standing ovation when he came to bat for the first time. He worked a full count and then drew a walk.

Two walks later, Ortiz was on third base. He scored on Josh Reddick's single.

Ortiz batted again in the second inning and lined a single to left-center field.

In his last two at-bats, Ortiz popped up to the first baseman and blooped a single to right.

"I'm feeling good," Ortiz said. "My hands feel great. I'm just going to come up and have fun with the kids."

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:

kthomas@pressherald.com