"I don't get no respect. Not from the media. Not from the front office. What I do is never the right thing. It's always hiding, for somebody to find out."

- David Ortiz

I sometimes wonder if David Ortiz is legitimately delusional. 

Forget the game-winners in the 2004 ALCS, forget the 54 homers in 2006, forget, even, the barrage of blasts over the past couple of years during a curious late-career resurgence that has seen the 36-year-old reemerge as one of the handful of best power hitters in baseball. 

None qualify as David Ortiz's greatest hit.

That has always been the no respect card. He's played it time and time again over his career with the Sox and broke it out for another spin on Monday night. 

Ortiz was asked after Monday's 8-6 win over the Orioles - a win that saw the Sox get to .500 and also included a titanic Ortiz homer off of Tommy Hunter in the sixth inning, his 10th of the season - about the perception of lack of leadership on this team. Ortiz, you remember, called a players-only meeting on May 11 that reportedly included hitters challenging pitchers to step up. 

The Sox have won nine of 11 games since the meeting and it sure seems that Ortiz would like a couple of attaboys for showing a little initative.

"Well, let me tell you, I was reading an article [that] talked about the leaders people call 'leaders' in this town," Ortiz told ESPNBoston.com. "Basically, it seems like no matter what you do, it's not good enough. … And you can only call leaders the guys who are out diving for balls on the field or calling pitches behind the plate?"

So Ortiz wants us to look at him as a leader of this team, just as many did with Jason Varitek and do now with Dustin Pedroia (and it's pretty obvious those were the "guys" he was referring to in the previous quote). I'm not sure making the case directly to the media is the best way to prove that he's Lou Gehrig 2.0 - something about actions speaking louder than words - but Ortiz has always used the media to throw pity parties for himself over the years.

And we return to disrespect. David Ortiz is having a tremendous season. He ranks second in the AL in slugging, third in OPS, fourth in batting average, sixth in RBI and eighth in home runs. In the Everyone Not Named Josh Hamilton Department, Ortiz has been as good a hitter as any in baseball this season and is the unquestioned MVP of this team with a quarter of the season in the books.

Does anyone not agree with that? Have you read anything even remotely close to negative when it comes to the performance of Ortiz this season? You haven't, because it doesn't exist. Ortiz isn't pissed about media coverage this season, he's still stewing about what was written in April 2010. At that time, he was coming off a 2009 season that included a .238 batting average and a .794 OPS, both easily career-lows in Boston. And in April 2010 Ortiz hit .143 with one homer in 56 at-bats. 

To me, it was reasonable to speculate that maybe - maybe - Ortiz was done as an A-list slugger. Two sub-par seasons (he hit 23 homers in 109 games in 2008) plus a lousy April plus 33 years old plus a PED history made that all perfectly legitimate speculation. But Ortiz - who has been terrific since, really almost as good as he was at his peak - is used to being treated with kid gloves by the media and ownership and is hugely sensitive to anything even close to criticism. So his natural reaction, his default, is to let us all know how disrespected he feels. And when you've been in Boston for 10 years and light critical reaction sets you off every single time, it might be time to grow up a little. 

The media doesn't respect him? Really? Again, find me all the critical pieces on Ortiz over the years. The media gave him an absolute free pass on the steroid stuff, closed their eyes and collectively walked away from it. And you know why? They like Ortiz - he's jokes around with them in the locker room and is always accessible. It's that simple. And now we are reading stories about Ortiz's remarkable late-career production that never mention his PED history. I mean, if the media truly didn't respect Ortiz wouldn't there be a lot more speculation as to how Ortiz has a 1.019 OPS at age 36?

(Oh, forget it. NESN.com has gone Woodward and Bernstein on me, right when I wasn't looking. Here's the headline from this morning: "Mike Aviles, David Ortiz Credit Healthy Diets for Continued Success This Season." Here's one highlight -- "Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz has taken a cue on adhering to a diet as well. In an attempt to reduce his cholesterol –– and avoid taking medicine –– the 36-year-old trimmed roughly 20 pounds by cutting out alcohol and munching on more vegetables." Sold. Didn't we used to read this stuff about guys back in 1998 with no irony?)

And Ortiz is equally transparent when knocking the front office. Disrespect means only getting paid $14.5 million this season to DH. Ortiz wanted a multi-year deal, the Sox said no. They could have given him a four-year contract and he'd still complain about being screwed in the past. And it seems the rest of baseball passed too, or Ortiz would have signed somewhere else for the three-year deal he wanted. Does the rest of baseball disrespect him, too?

Ownership has paid David Ortiz over $80 million bucks to be disrespected over the last 10 years. They stood by him during the steroid stuff, said they believed his story. Whatever else they need to do to placate Ortiz, chances are that it will be done. And it still won't be enough.

David Ortiz has been worth every nickel of that $80 million and he's carrying this Red Sox team in 2012. Maybe he's a leader on this team and maybe he isn't, but he'd be best served to keep hitting and leave his greatest hit on the shelf.