Quiet in the house

If it wasn’t evident by the surprising lack of a crush of fans at the gates opening at 2 p.m., or the half-empty stands 10 minutes prior to game time, it certainly was when David Ortiz came to the plate in the fifth inning, one inning after hitting his first home run of the postseason. The thunderous “MVP” chant that followed the Red Sox DH to the plate in the waning weeks of the season was but a whisper, drowned out by the overwhelming apathetic quiet in the park.

It’s a bit eerie here. No “Let’s go Red Sox” chants. No “Ev-erett” serenades to sing. Oh, sure, they pep up at times, like for both of Manny Ramirez’s home runs, and Jonathan Papelbon’s great escape in the sixth inning, but beyond these few moments, you would be hard pressed to discover this is a playoff game atmosphere.

— Ramirez became the 10th player in Red Sox history to homer twice in a postseason game, the first since Johnny Damon homered twice in Game 7 of the ALCS last October at Yankee Stadium.