By Jimmy Golen, AP Sports Writer
BOSTON — The Red Sox sent David Ortiz off before his final regular-season game with a promise that he will return.
This week, in the playoffs, when he goes for his fourth World Series title.
And next year, when they hang his No. 34 from the Fenway facade among the team’s retired numbers.
During a pregame ceremony Sunday attended by Red Sox greats like Carl Yastrzemski and teammates from Ortiz’s three World Series championships, the ballclub honored the soon-to-retire slugger by draping a Dominican flag over the Green Monster and bringing out his father — Big Papi’s real Papi — to join him on the diamond.