David Ortiz slugs a double against the Los Angeles Angels in the ALDS, but so far, he’s just 1 for 14 against the Rays in the ALCS. After a 13-4 drubbing last night, Game Five is tomorrow night.

The Providence Journal Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — David Ortiz hears the rumblings and sees the pain in his fans’ eyes but he wasn’t listening when his hitless slide mounted through these 2008 playoffs.

Ortiz halted a 0-for-14 skid in last night’s Game Four of the American League Championship Series but that wasn’t nearly enough to prevent his Boston Red Sox from withstanding another whipping at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, 13-4.

Ortiz hit a seventh-inning triple to hopefully snap out of his mini-slump but he correctly stated that the Red Sox have much bigger worries if they intend to dig out of their 3-1 hole in the series.

“The problem is everybody is focusing on Papi not hitting,” Ortiz said of himself, “but to tell you the truth most of the series with Anaheim and now with the Rays, Papi doesn’t come to hit with men on base all the time. I’m not going to change the game when you have a lead by nine, 10 runs, whatever they scoring right now. What we need to focus on right now is to stop their offense.”

Ortiz marveled at the success of the Rays, who’ve put up 22 runs in the last two games. “Everybody is pretty much locked in,” he said. “I’ve been in a lot of playoffs and you don’t see that too often. You might see three, four guys hot but everybody? It’s crazy.”

While much of the focus of the three Sox losses in the ALCS can center around the collective collapse of the starting pitching staff, the Red Sox’ hitters can’t be left off the hook either. It’s a communal disintegration that has the Sox peering up at the surging Rays. From Josh Beckett to Ortiz, Jon Lester to Jacoby Ellsbury, the Sox have way too many supposed stars who aren’t producing at all.

The Sox sent Tim Wakefield, who at 42 years old became the oldest pitcher to ever start an ALCS game, to the mound last night. But he was horrible as the Rays ripped him for five runs in 2 2/3 innings. Beckett and Lester surrendered seven homers in Games Two and Three and the Rays kept hammering against Wakefield as Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Willy Aybar all took the knuckleball deep.

As Wakefield left the mound in the top of the third inning, for what could be his final time as a Red Sox, the sellout crowd offered only token applause.

One of the game’s few moments that merited a response from the sellout crowd was reserved for Ortiz. Big Papi entered last night on a 0-for-10 skid in the series that was nothing if not bewildering. With the Rays’ infield again firmly shifted to the right side, Ortiz went down softly with two weak grounders to the second baseman. But on his third at-bat in the seventh inning, the big man ripped an Andy Sonnanstine pitch into right field that rattled away from Fernando Perez for a triple. The hit snapped an 0-for-14 slide for Ortiz that stretched back to the final game of the ALDS. The triple was only the third Boston hit of the night.

Before the triple, Ortiz had walked four times, struck out three times, flew out five times and grounded out twice in the series. None of the fly-ball outs threatened to leave either Tropicana Field or Fenway Park.

Power has always been an Ortiz’ playoff trademark. In his first 45 career playoff games, Ortiz had cracked 11 home runs. But he’s now gone 15 straight playoff games without a homer.

Manager Terry Francona said that while the wrist injury that sidelined Ortiz back in the middle of the summer “probably isn’t 100 percent,” he could not point to any injury for his hitter’s troubles. Instead, he tipped his cap to the starting pitching of the Rays. Andy Sonnanstine held the Red Sox in check for seven innings last night and Matt Garza (1 run, 6 innings) did the same in Game Three.

“His first at-bat he gets called out on a pitch he doesn’t think is a strike,” Francona said of an Ortiz strikeout against Garza. “Then they made some real good off-speed pitches, down in the zone. Then you have a guy who can throw 98 who can elevate. That’s a little bit of a tough combination. There’s a reason he got us out. He did some pretty good pitching.”

Francona hoped a shake up of his lineup in Game Four could spark the offense but nothing happened. Ellsbury, a star in last year’s drive to the World Series, was benched last night. He was 0-for-14 in the first three games. J.D. Drew moved to the head of the line but he was a listless 0-for-4.

Jason Varitek sat out as well. He’ll try to end a 0-for-10 whiteout in the series in Game Five tomorrow. The captain, who is a free agent at the end of this season, may also be playing his final game as a Red Sox tomorrow.

Ortiz just hopes it’s not the final game for the entire Red Sox team.

“It’ll be a tough situation,” he said. “Playing against a team that’s playing like that is a little hard. They’re performing real good, pitching and hitting wise. We have to come back and try to win.”

kmcnamar@projo.com