The ball missed the first row of the Monster seats by maybe a few feet. It would have been David Ortiz's first home run of the season.
"The hitting my first homer thing, I don't want to let it get in my head because it just makes it worse, you know?" Ortiz said. "One's going to come, then the next one, then the next . . . next thing you know you're right there with everybody. That's something that you can't really control. You just got to keep on playing and swinging. Let things happen.
"You guys might think us as a player has control over it, and we don't. We really don't. That's how it goes."
Ortiz has gone the first 15 games without a homer, his longest season-opening drought with the Red Sox. In 2003, his first season in Boston, he went deep in Game 15 and finished with 31 homers.
But even though Ortiz hasn't hit a homer yet, he has been hitting the ball to left field. He dunked a single into left in the first inning of yesterday's 10-1 rout of the Twins in Game 1, then added that long double off the Wall leading off the seventh. In Game 2, he stroked a two-run double to left in the third, giving the Sox a 5-0 lead en route to a 7-3 victory.
However, he said he's not making a conscious effort to go the other way.
"I don't know, man," Ortiz said. "I'm just swinging just in case I hit it."
He has been. He has three multihit games in his last five, raising his batting average to .220, and has driven in five runs during the first six games of this homestand.
Taking the cake
The only reason
Nick Green remembers his last home run in the major leagues is simple. It was on Sept. 10, 2006, as Green celebrated his 28th birthday while with the Yankees. Now the Red Sox' starting shortstop, Green blasted a two-run shot that cleared the Green Monster in the second inning of the opener, which
Tim Wakefield called "an absolute bomb." Wakefield added, "I'm proud that he's out there playing behind me."
"The biggest thing is to get the opportunity to do it," Green said. "Hopefully I can do more good things. I feel good. Obviously, I get frustrated at myself for making dumb errors. Other than that, I feel good. Obviously, the more you play, the better you feel at the plate and the field so I'd just like to play every day when I can."
Green also had an RBI ground-rule double to right just before the tarp went on the field. Green's day wasn't all good, though. He committed an error in the second by making a one-hop throw from deep in the hole, then was charged with another error in the fifth, unable to cleanly transfer the ball from his glove as he attempted to turn a double play. The latter contributed to the Twins' only run of Game 1.
His third error of the day allowed the Twins to score a run in the fourth inning of Game 2.
"For a long time he hasn't had anything given to him," manager Terry Francona said. "Even in the spring, he had to earn every single thing he got. I think there's some comfort there. He knows coming to the ballpark he's going to be in the lineup."
Up and away
Before the first game, the Sox called up
Jeff Bailey from Pawtucket to take the roster spot of
Rocco Baldelli, who was put on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday night. Bailey got the start at first base in Game 2 and clubbed a three-run homer in the second inning to put the Sox on the board. "Hard to ask for anything more than that," Bailey said of his fourth career major league home run. "I didn't know if it was going to clear the Wall. When it did, I got around the bases pretty quick." . . . To make room for Bailey on the 40-man roster, the Sox put righthander
Devern Hansack on unconditional release waivers. Hansack is expected to return on a minor league deal if he clears waivers . . .
Clay Buchholz made his first start for Pawtucket since injuring his hamstring April 13. Buchholz held Rochester to two runs on three hits and two walks over five innings. He struck out two.
Julio Lugo, in the first game of his rehab stint with the PawSox, struck out in his first three at-bats, then drew a walk in his final plate appearance. He handled all four chances at shortstop cleanly.
Jonathan Van Every hit a tying grand slam with two outs in the ninth, and Pawtucket won, 8-7, in 11 innings.
Second nature
In honor of Earth Day, the Sox wore special white-and-green uniforms for the night game, the ones they wore for St. Patrick's Day, with a clover on one sleeve, and green hats. A recycling symbol was added on the other sleeve . . .
Dave Roberts threw out the first pitch before Game 2, and Francona was the recipient. "I was happy to do it," Francona said. "He's probably the reason I'm still here. If he's out [trying to steal second in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series], I'd be somewhere else. I owe it to him. It was actually a pretty good reminder that I've been pretty fortunate. Good players make you look like you know what you're doing and I realize that. I'm grateful to a lot of good players and Davey's one of them." . . . The last time the Sox played fewer than nine innings in the first game of a doubleheader was July 4, 1913 (seven innings) . . . The Sox' bullpen has allowed only one run in its last 17 2/3 innings.
Ramon Ramírez, who worked the seventh in Game 2, has the longest active scoreless streak by an AL reliever at 9 1/3 innings . . . Ortiz passed
Joe Cronin for sole possession of 10th place on the Sox' all-time RBI list with 739 . . .
Kevin Youkilis moved across the diamond for Game 2, starting at third for the resting
Mike Lowell. But he went 0 for 4, the first time he's failed to reach base this season . . .
Jacoby Ellsbury's seven-game hitting streak ended with an 0 for 3 in Game 2 . . . Forbes magazine announced major league team values, with the Sox ranking third at $833 million. The Yankees were first at $1.5 billion, followed by the Mets at $912 million.
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