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.
"Why not?" said Julian Tavarez, yesterday's starter.
As in, why wouldn't they expect him to produce at that moment? He has so often in the past.
"History has proven itself," catcher Jason Varitek said. "But do we put the weight of the world on his shoulders? No. He's human. He's going through stuff, trying to find himself still right now. Once he does, he'll lock back in."
Yet it's hard to say when that might be. 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.
"I don't think he's real comfortable," manager Terry Francona said. "You don't stay 162 games feeling great about yourself. I know he feels a responsibility, but I also hope he comes up in that situation every time. That's how we feel about him."
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.
"You go through cycles where it seems like scoring runs are very difficult," Francona said. "You go through the periods where we're whacking it all over the ballpark. I hope that cycle starts tomorrow."
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 -- the same as the night before -- 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.
