Ramírez, of course, was nowhere to be seen. He'd been sent to Massachusetts General Hospital during the game to have an MRI of both knees, the Sox evidently taking no chances that their slugger might have gotten confused about which one hurt. The tests, according to manager Terry Francona, came back clean.
Was Francona disappointed that Ramírez had not made the effort to play on a night the Yankees drew to within two games of the second-place Sox in the American League East?
"I think I've answered enough tonight," said Francona, who already had discussed in detail the sequence of events that had Ramírez first in, then out, of the lineup.
"It's five minutes after the game. I'd like to talk to the medical people a little more extensively. There's time to answer questions about anybody. For me right now, it wouldn't be . . . "
Francona's voice trailed off.
Whether Ramírez would have made a difference against the 100 mile-per-hour BBs and darting sliders of Joba Chamberlain, we'll never know. But given the Sox had just three hits, all singles, against Chamberlain in his seven innings, it couldn't have hurt.
While the Sox stewed - Mike Lowell was ejected after being called out on strikes in the ninth and Kevin Youkilis ducked another head-high fastball from Chamberlain - the Yankees not only held on for their seventh win in a row, they pulled off a deal with Pittsburgh for a lefthanded reliever, Damaso Marte, who will bolster their pen and an outfielder, Xavier Nady, who will help compensate for the absence of Hideki Matsui (knee) and Jorge Posada (shoulder).
That much-awaited restoration of the Sox batting order to its previous state of grace? It never made it past the lineup card Francona discarded long before the anthem, one that had Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis at the top and Ramírez hitting cleanup behind Ortiz, with the rookie, Jacoby Ellsbury, dropped to the No. 9 hole.
