Ramon Ramirez drilled Torii Hunter with this pitch en route to loading the bases in the seventh inning. Two of the runners scored.

AP photo / Chris Carlson

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Ramon Ramirez’ first postseason appearance didn’t go quite the way he’d hoped it would. The 28-year-old righty reliever came out firing bullets -- and ended up loading the bases without recording an out.

Ramirez said the problems had nothing to do with it being his first time in the postseason. He just didn’t execute the pitches and plays he needed.

"I [did] not feel nervous. ... Felt like every time. It’s nothing that I feel nervous about," Ramirez said. "I’m excited to play here, but it’s not like I feel nervous or something like that. I do the best I can no matter what."

Ramirez entered the game in the seventh to face Bobby Abreu, and walked him. He then hit Torii Hunter with a first-pitch fastball -- prompting sustained boos from the crowd, as Hunter had hit a three-run home run in his previous at-bat.

Catcher Victor Martinez said the Sox had no intention of hitting Martinez -- and Martinez told Hunter as much.

"He’s a great guy. I’ve been playing against him for a long time, when he was with the Twins. I just told him, ’Don’t think we hit you on purpose. We were just trying to come in and get a double-play ball.’ He was cool about it," Martinez said.

With those two men on, Ramirez induced a hard ground ball to the mound from Vladimir Guerrero, but couldn’t glove the ball cleanly. It settled on the ground to the third base side of the mound, and Ramirez ran to pick it up, seemingly still with plenty of time to get Guerrero at first. But for some reason, he couldn’t get a handle on the ball, and Guerrero reached first before Ramirez could even pick it up.

"I tried to make one out, I thought I fielded the ball, but no," Ramirez shrugged, dejected. "Nothing I can do."

With none out, Ramirez was replaced by Takashi Saito, who allowed two runs to score on an RBI single and a throwing error. Ramirez was charged with both runs.

Ramirez may not have thought it was nerves, but manager Terry Francona thought the significance of the moment may have contributed to his problems.

"I thought he looked a little amped up. Yeah, I agree. He walked Bobby, which can happen. Gets Torii. And then we get the groundball -- we’ve got a chance, at worst, one, maybe two [outs]. He looked a little overexcited. Hopefully, next time out he’ll be a little better," Francona said.

Martinez said Ramirez didn’t have control of his pitches, and wasn’t fully executing his delivery.

"He wasn’t able to stay within himself and finish his pitches. He was up in the zone and the ball was running away. He wasn’t able to control that," Martinez said.

Ramirez was a member of the 2007 Colorado Rockies team that was defeated by the Red Sox in the World Series, but he was injured and didn’t make the postseason roster.

dbarbari@projo.com