July 1, 2007
...
David Ortiz walked back to the dugout, head down, the roaring crowd
suddenly silent. He removed his helmet a few feet from the dugout and
walked down the steps. The game was over. This was supposed to be his
time, trailing by one run with two outs in the ninth inning and a
runner on. But instead of the ball leaving the park or smashing
against the Wall or even dribbling through the right side, instead of
Ortiz circling the bases with Julio Lugo racing in front of him, the
Red Sox slugger simply trudged back to the dugout.
His popup
never left the infield, gathered in by first baseman Brad Wilkerson to end
Texas's 2-1 win, expectations falling with the baseball. There would be no
heroics this time. Though, along with the crowd, his teammates were waiting for
something to happen.
As the team
has experienced an offensive slowdown, even against the woeful Rangers staff, so
too has Ortiz, who found out yesterday he had been chosen as an All-Star starter
for the fourth straight year then declined to talk with reporters. Ortiz has hit
only .250 (7 for 28) in late innings of close games, with one RBI and no home
runs. With one out and two aboard in the fifth, Ortiz hit a blast to left field,
caught just before the Wall by Frank Catalanotto that had seemed ticketed for
some green paint, at least. That came just after Kevin Youkilis's line single to
left scored Alex Cora with the Red Sox' only run.
In front of
a languid crowd of 36,378 that only began to awaken in the eighth inning, the
Red Sox struggled to convert on their chances going 1 for 9 with runners in
scoring position and leaving 11 men on base, two in a promising eighth that was
delayed by an injury (forearm stiffness) to Rangers reliever Akinori Otsuka.
With J.D.
Drew on first and two outs, Varitek got an infield single when he arrived at the
bag a split second before Otsuka. Varitek was spiked on the right ankle on the
play. Eric Gagne relieved Otsuka, although he at first didn't realize he was
being called in to warm up as Otsuka departed. That left the entire park,
Rangers staff and umpires included, looking toward the bullpen with no one
emerging, and prompted a rousing round of boos. Despite the chorus, Gagne
quickly got Cora to ground to second to end the inning.
It was a
waste of a rather impressive performance from Tavarez, who went 5 2/3 innings,
allowing one earned run on a walk to Catalanotto and a Wall double by Wilkerson
in the sixth. The other Texas run came in the fourth after some miscommunication
between right fielder Drew and newcomer Jacoby Ellsbury in center. The players
nearly collided as a long fly ball off the bat of Marlon Byrd fell in, Drew
getting an error on the play, on which Sammy Sosa scored from second. It was the
second error of the inning, the first coming on the play before, when Cora
couldn't handle a ball hit to short. Tavarez, however, got out of the inning
when he struck out Wilkerson swinging on a 90-mile-per-hour fastball and got
Adam Melhuse to ground into a double play.
And though
he said he wasn't in a good mood after the game, Tavarez was able to digest the
loss, the one that put him at 5-6 despite lowering his ERA from 4.60 to 4.39,
and move on.
For the
second straight game, all Julio Lugo got to do was pinch run. Coming in for
Dustin Pedroia (walk) in the ninth inning, Lugo never got a chance to advance,
as Kevin Youkilis flied to short right field and David Ortiz popped to first to
end the Red Sox' 2-1 loss to the Rangers yesterday.
Jacoby
Ellsbury played center field for the second straight game, which led to J.D.
Drew's fourth-inning error when there was some confusion between the two. Jason
Varitek had a small bloody spot on his ankle after the game courtesy of being
spiked by Rangers reliever Akinori Otsuka, who was covering first on Varitek's
eighth-inning infield single. Varitek, who hobbled at the time, stayed in the
game and said he was fine.
Curt
Schilling will be reexamined tomorrow to determine the next step as he continues
his rehab from right shoulder tendinitis. Mike Lowell got the day off, before
hearing he had been selected to the All-Star Game. The decision was made to get
Eric Hinske's bat in the game. Hinske played first, with Youkilis moving to
third.
With their
second straight one-run loss, the Sox are now 14-10 in such games, and 7-17 when
scoring three runs or fewer. The team is batting just .252 with three home runs
and 26 runs over the last nine.
