Dustin Pedroia knows all about turning points.

Three years ago Wednesday the Red Sox second baseman found his moment where everything took a turn for a better and he started down a path toward big league stardom that would just keep on going. After an off day of working on keeping his head in an upright position, the then-rookie took his new hitting approach -- along with a .180 batting average -- into the Sox May 5 game against the Minnesota Twins and Johan Santana. The result was two hits and a career momentum that still hasn't stopped.

Now both the Red Sox and their designated hitter, David Ortiz, are searching for their own crossroads. Judging by its 5-1 win over the Angels Tuesday night (for a complete recap click here), the team might have actually discovered its turn for the better, while Ortiz, well, that seems to be still a work in progress.

First, the Red Sox …

It's only been two games and two wins, but when you're heading into a homestead three games under .500 while still reeking of a three-game series sweep in Baltimore, the turnaround actually gives the impression of meaning something.

And if we look back at this current run as the moment it all came together for the Red Sox, the impetus for such a resurgence might be identified as something that happened at approximately 3 p.m. Monday afternoon. It was then the Red Sox held a team meeting.

"Team meetings sound great if you start playing better after them," said Red Sox infielder Mike Lowell. "It sounds like a great team meeting so far."

The get-together was, as Sox shortstop Marco Scutaro said, "a chance for Tito to use it as motivation and remind us to stick together as a team."

In the short-term, anyway, it worked.

Tuesday the Red Sox showcased a newfound confidence and ability to execute for a second straight night, getting eight innings of dominance from starter Jon Lester, and then some key eighth-inning hits (most notably Jeremy Hermida's two-out, bases-loaded double) to break a 1-1 tie.

Some might view the team meeting and subsequent turnaround as nothing more than a coincidence. Scutaro, for one, has seen the power of such a tool and believes in the power of the Pow Wow. 

The shortstop remembers one time, in 2006 while he was with the A's, his team was going through a rough patch when the normally soft-spoken Eric Chavez stood up and began a diatribe that, as Scutaro explains allowed Oakland to "flip a switch" and go on a run that led to an American League West title. 

"Sometimes we need a slap on the back. It's hard. It's hard to stay positive when things are going so bad for such a long time," Scutaro said. "Sometimes you get down and sometimes you need a slap on the back, or something like that.

"It's frustrating when everything is going bad as a team for a month, since the beginning. It gets frustrating because you go out there and work hard and you try to do everything right and then you say, 'What the [heck], man!' It's like if you have a test and you spend the whole night studying, you think you're ready and you answer everything wrong. It's frustrating … No matter how many years you've been in the big leagues or or been in the game, sooner or later this game is going to get you, no matter how tough you are mentally."

That leads us to David Ortiz.

It was another low point in a season full of them, this time coming in the form of two strikeouts and two double plays. The worst of it came in the eighth when Ortiz stepped to the plate against Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen with nobody out, the game tied and the bases loaded.

Ortiz drew the count to 2-0 before rolling Jepson's next pitch over, grounding into a 4-2-3 double play. 

It was thought that perhaps the two-home run performance of Saturday in Camden Yards might have offered the chance for Ortiz to claim his own turning point, but instead he finds himself sitting here with a .149 batting average and more doubt than ever. 

The playing time situation only got stickier for Ortiz when Mike Lowell continued his tear against the Angels, notching his fifth hit in as many at-bats on the homestead by driving in the Sox fifth run with an eighth-inning, pinch-hit doubles

Although Francona wouldn't commit to whether or not Ortiz would be back int he lineup Wednesday, that would seem the likely scenario with the DH having totaled a .391 batting average against Angels starter Joel Pineiro in 23 career at-bats.

"We've done some things we haven't in the past," said Francona, referring to the pinch-hitting and platooning he has had to implement with Ortiz thus far this season. "Some of that is because of the personnel we have. Mikey Lowell is sitting over there, a good hitter. At the same time, running away from David is not the best answer in my opinion. Again, we try to balance it the best we can. We need him to hit, as opposed to running away from him."

Judging by the reaction from the reaction following the Red Sox latest win, Ortiz' teammates aren't turning their backs despite the hole the DH's struggles are often leaving in the middle of the team's lineup.

It is, after all, a clubhouse intimately familiar with turning points.

"David's fine," Pedroia said. "He's one of our teammates. It could've been me that hit into a double play. It happens to everybody, man. He's had 60 at-bats. A couple of years ago, I was hitting .170 and everyone was ready to kill me, too. What happened? Laser show, so relax. I'm tired of looking at the NESN poll, 'Why is David struggling?' David's fine. He's one of our teammates. We believe in him. He came out of it last year, he's going to come out of it this year."