Doctor is not off duty

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Red Sox have a new medical director this year in Thomas Gill. However, some players, including Curt Schilling and Trot Nixon, will continue to seek the opinion of Dr. William Morgan, who was dismissed following last season.

"I loved Dr. Morgan," Nixon said earlier in the week. "And I know our owners, they're the bosses, they decide who comes and who goes, not in that harsh a language, but this is their team. I still will stay in contact with Dr. Morgan. He knows my body. He knows what I'm capable of doing."

It is known that club executives were displeased with Morgan when Nixon showed up at camp last spring with lower back pain, having signed a three-year contract extension just weeks earlier. An MRI taken at camp showed a bulging disk.

Morgan, meanwhile, had done Nixon's physical before the team signed him to the extension. Morgan, reached for comment recently, went on record saying the MRI of Nixon's back taken during that physical was clean.

"I think my back was in just as good a shape as someone else's [at the time of the physical]," Nixon said. "The fact of the matter was me saying I hurt my back driving down last year. You ask a back specialist, Dr. [Barth A.] Green down in Miami, Dr. [Robert] Watkins in Los Angeles, well, yeah, if you sit for 10, 11 hours, you might have a problem. And I did.

"He might have taken some heat. I don't know for sure. You hear rumors all the time. He might have taken heat for Trot or this guy. That kind of bothers me because I'm like, `Why is my name in there?' I love Dr. Morgan. I've known Dr. Morgan as long as I've been in this organization. The guy is awesome."

Nixon made a point of saying he has no issue with Gill. In fact, Nixon sought Gill's opinion on his quadriceps last season.

"He agreed with Dr. Morgan, [to] shut it down," Nixon said.

Manager Terry Francona, meanwhile, said he doesn't foresee a problem with some players still checking in with Morgan.

"It's not uncommon for guys to seek second opinions because some of this stuff they're trying to diagnose is not cut and dried," Francona said. "All we really care about is getting it right, from the baseball people to the doctors. We don't care who helps. Let's just get it right."

Say what?
Johnny Damon, asked about steroids this week, said: "I've never been around anyone who injected themselves or did steroids."

Damon, quoted in a Bob Ryan column about steroids March 3, 2004, said: "Did I play with guys who did it? Absolutely."

Asked for a clarification, Damon said he didn't recall saying what Ryan quoted him as saying.

"There might have been suspicions," the center fielder said. "Maybe there was someone next door [doing steroids]. I've never seen it. That would be my clarification."

Round 2
Francona reported that Schilling felt "no ill effects" from throwing 47 pitches off a mound Thursday. He will throw his second mound session of the year today . . . Francona and his staff have begun discussing pitching rotation possibilities for spring training games, which begin Thursday. The Sox open with five games in three days: Thursday vs. Minnesota (NESN, 7:05 p.m.); split-squad games Friday vs. Northeastern and Boston College; and split-squad games Saturday at Minnesota and Cincinnati (6 p.m., Channel 38) . . . Wade Miller continues to build strength in his right shoulder. He threw from 180 feet for the second time in as many days yesterday. The next test is to step on the mound. That could happen any day, though the coaching staff will be conservative. "It will not be a setback if he's not on the mound," Francona said. "We just don't know quite what we think is in his best interest yet." . . . Heavy rains late Thursday and early yesterday saturated the fields, forcing Sox hitters into the batting cages. The coaching staff used the lost time outside to go over signs . . . Keith Foulke's right index finger seems fine. Francona made the media aware of Foulke's blister this week because he knew Foulke's Band-Aid would raise questions. However, Foulke was somewhat upset that Francona bothered saying anything at all.

Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.