MRI on Ortiz's shoulder reveals no damage

David Ortiz wasn't on the lineup card posted in the Red Sox clubhouse when he arrived yesterday afternoon.

About an hour later, he walked out of Fenway Park, confirmation that the designated hitter wasn't going to be appearing on national television, unless it was in a taped spot or advertisement.

Manny Ramírez hit in Ortiz's No. 3 spot as the designated hitter, Kevin Youkilis played first and batted cleanup, and Wily Mo Peña hit ninth and played left field in yesterday's 11-2 trouncing of the White Sox.

The Sox announced in the first inning that Ortiz had been taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for an MRI on his left shoulder. The test, according to the club, showed no structural damage.

Ortiz is listed as day to day with a strained shoulder.

Ortiz sustained the injury on an awkward, headfirst slide into second base during the fifth inning of Friday night's 10-3 win. Ortiz tried to stretch a single and was out on the play, though not before Coco Crisp scored on his hit.

"Pretty much what we expected," manager Terry Francona said before Ortiz went for the MRI, which the Sox called precautionary. "We thought he'd show up today and be stiff and sore. Again, he was tested for strength and everything came out really well, so that's good."

Francona, who had been ejected in the first inning Friday, was asked if he braced himself every time he sees Ortiz launch into a slide.

"Brace myself? I was sitting on the couch in my office. When he hit the ground, I almost fell off the couch. Like an earthquake.

"But you have to play the game. A lot of times people ask me, 'They're playing behind him at first, why don't you run?' Well, we value him in the lineup. You have to play the game, but a lot of times that's why we don't run even if it's 3 and 2, because that's a lot of force when he hits the ground."

What about sliding feetfirst?

"How many times have we talked about his knee?" Francona said. "It's a big body."

Julio Lugo's double in the third inning extended his hitting streak to 11 games. He was batting leadoff for the first time since July 2 against Texas, when he went 0 for 2 with two walks and a sacrifice bunt.

"We're trying to keep the lineup balanced," Francona said. "I'd prefer to have a lot of consistency in the lineup. We're just not able to."

The double was Lugo's only hit. He also struck out three times, the final one ending the Sox' seven-run seventh.

Lugo's grand slam Friday night gave him 17 RBIs with the bases loaded, the fifth-highest total in the American League entering yesterday's games. Carlos Guillen of the Tigers led with 21, followed by Raul Ibanez of the Mariners (20), Carl Crawford of the Devil Rays (19), Jorge Posada of the Yankees (18), and Lugo.

Posada, batting .643 (9 for 14) with the bases loaded, had the highest average among players with at least 10 at-bats in that situation; Lugo led the Sox with a .438 average (7 for 16) with the bases loaded.

The Sox began the day ninth in the AL with a .265 average with the bases loaded, with four grand slams. They got six cracks with the bases full yesterday -- Crisp had three singles to account for five RBIs, J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell drew walks, and Jason Varitek hit into a fielder's choice on which Youkilis was forced at home.

Eric Hinske's bunt single Friday night was the first of his career. It resulted from the shift White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen ordered with Varitek on first with none out. "Probably just a product of my at-bats this year," Hinske said of the shift. "I've probably made a lot of outs to the right side. I wish they'd do it more. I'd bunt more."

Even after he fouled off his first bunt attempt, the White Sox remained in a shift. "They probably thought I wasn't going to do it again," Hinske said.

The bunt contributed to a four-run fifth, as Lugo followed with another bunt single and Crisp cleared the bases with a triple.

"I used to bunt a little bit [in the minors], but you get up here, you don't get paid to bunt," Hinske said. "Just trying to make stuff happen, you know?"

With his pinch single and two-run triple in the seventh yesterday, Hinske raised his average to .216. He also had his first stolen base.

"First bunt, first stolen base, but three triples," Hinske said. "I'm over my quota for the season."

Francona was visited before the game by umpire Tim McClelland, who made the non-home run call on Drew's first-inning drive Friday night, which later was acknowledged to be wrong by umpiring supervisor Mike Port. Francona said one way to resolve such disputes would be to install a fifth umpire in a TV booth for reviews . . . Despite Curt Schilling's strong showing last night in Pawtucket (three scoreless innings, six strikeouts), the Sox are leaning toward giving him a third rehab start. Schilling is scheduled to start Thursday in Toledo, and the PawSox are in Columbus July 31. It's possible that if Schilling makes a third rehab start, he could wait until Aug. 1, when the PawSox return home . . . The Red Sox signed righthander Felix Diaz to a minor league contract and sent him to Portland. Diaz, whose only major league experience came in 18 games with the White Sox in 2004, was released by the Nationals last week after going 5-4 with a 5.66 ERA for Triple A Columbus. His debut in the Sox' system went quite well as he retired the first 14 batters in a 9-5 win over the host Binghamton Mets last night.