David Ortiz’s poor start is the talk of the town in Boston. Ortiz, the beloved Red Sox slugger who played an instrumental role in the club’s two World Series titles, appears to be nearing the end of his days as a productive offensive player. Even after delivering a home run last night, the 34-year-old lefty hitter is batting just .171/.266/.414 in 79 plate appearances. His OPS+, 77, is below league average (100), which is all the worse considering that he adds no value on defense.

Due to the struggles, a vocal group of Red Sox fans and some media members are calling for Ortiz to be benched in favor of the recently hot Mike Lowell—which is essentially happening—and eventually released; according to Craig Calcaterra, that time has come. That group does not, however, include Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who is still a believer. Pedroia offered an entertaining defense of his struggling teammate to reporters earlier this week, saying the poor start was only the function of a slump over a small sample of games. To make his point, he brought up his awful start to his rookie season in 2007, when he was nearly benched in April and went on to win Rookie of the Year honors and American League M.V.P. the following season, as proof of why it is too early to give up on Ortiz.

Which led to the best quote of the year (via Gordon Edes).

“A couple of years ago I had 60 at-bats and I was hitting .170 and everybody was ready to kill me too. What happened? Laser show.”

With quotes like that, it is hard not to be a fan of Pedroia. And he is dead right. Since his rough start, he has indeed lined his fair share of lasers all across the diamond. Unfortunately, Big Papi does not have age on his side, has old man skills and might be hurting for some of this. So, while Sox fans would be foolish to forget to bring their sun glasses before attending the laser show at Fenway Park, it has more to do with Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Kevin Youkilis than David Ortiz.

See previous tauntr .gif images: Ryan Howard, Dez Bryant, Trevor Hoffman, Tasered Phillies Fan, Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger.