Rafael Devers' nickname coming up through the Red Sox ranks was "Smiley" for obvious reasons. His emotions weren't hard to find.
That was the first thing noticed after watching Devers make a really nice play in the ninth inning of the Red Sox' 4-2 loss to the Orioles Saturday.
The smile was gone. It was full-on sadness.
Even with the Red Sox still within striking distance, and Devers having expertly charged in, scooping up Maikel Franco's slow roller and firing it to first, there was no turning that frown upside-down. The third baseman knew one play wasn't going to erase a perception that had been fed by two games of inconsistency. And that smattering of Bronx cheers from the Fenway Park crowd didn't help, either.
For a second straight day, Devers' inadequate defense paved the way for a pivotal Baltimore inning. Saturday it was his ill-advised diving stop and subsequent air-mailed throw that defined his day.
With the score tied and two outs in the fourth inning, the Orioles' Austin Hayes hitter a slow grounder to the shortstop hole. But instead of letting Xander Bogaerts simply field the ball and take his chances with a throw to second or first, Devers dove in front, gathering up the ball and then proceeding to sail it over second baseman Marwin Gonzalez's head.
The throw, which wouldn't have been delivered to second in time for the force even if on target, allowed runners to ultimately land at second and third. The result would be a 2-0 Orioles lead after Franco came through with a two-out, two-run single.
"You can't hide him," said Orioles broadcaster Jim Palmer immediately after Devers' miscue.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, in this case the Hall-of-Famer is on to something.
"Those are the things that we keep talking about. Defense, defense, defense," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "He wants to make every play and he just has to make better decisions. We love the effort. That was a ball way to his left and he gets to it, but you have to know who you have next to you and you have to make better decisions. Like I said, the effort is there. If he makes that play, it's a great play. It's an above-average play. I rather have them make the average play and move on to the next play and do that. We'll keep working with him and we'll have to make better decisions."
The Devers dilemma must be maddening for the Red Sox.
There is clearly potential there, which was the reason why three years ago Cora went on WEEI and said Devers was becoming an "elite defender" at third base. They are reminders of what-might-be that come in bunches, as was the case a few innings after that fourth-inning gaffe.
But the Red Sox simply can't live with this much longer. Not the way this team is built. Cora knew coming in that a priority had to play better defense, with the chief project being Devers. But whether it was in spring training, or the first two games of the regular season, the transformation hasn't taken root.
Better conditioning was going to pay off for the 24-year-old. And the confidence of Cora would supply the punctuation for Devers' resurgence. Nope. Not so far.
For now, there simply aren't a lot of options. The designated hitter spot is spoken for, and the Red Sox haven't taken one second to integrate Devers across the diamond at first base.
For now, it's simply hoping Devers consistently becomes the player we saw in that last inning. Unfortunately for the Sox, that has been nothing but a dream for going on four seasons now.
They really, really need it to finally become a reality.
"I think defensively the two games we haven't been sharp," Cora said. "We made some bad decisions. Not making plays. For us, it's very important to play defense. The teams that play good defense, they win ballgames. The first two games we haven't done that."