Plenty of rain, but no games

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Torrential rains wiped out the Red Sox' annual St. Patrick's Day game yesterday. The Sox were slated to play the Florida Marlins at 3:05 at City of Palms Park, but Boston officials called the game late in the morning and the Marlins never departed from Jupiter, Fla.

"If it was up to us, we'd have had them come over here on those buses," said Johnny Damon. "This just shows how much class we've got."

Damon was referring to the March 9 fiasco when the Marlins made the Red Sox drive three hours across the state, then wait until 2:30 before canceling a game that was supposed to start at 1:05. It was a wasted day for the world champs, but the Sox eschewed an opportunity for retribution.

"We didn't want them to come all the way over here like we did," said manager Terry Francona.

Today was scheduled to be an offday for the Red Sox -- their only empty date in the spring schedule. After a late-morning meeting with players, the Sox announced they would play a split-squad Marlin team (most of Florida's regulars will be playing the Cardinals in Jupiter).

None of the Sox seemed miffed about the loss of their only offday. Francona excused several players who had already made plans for the day. Francona told David Ortiz and Edgar Renteria to take the day off. Doug Mirabelli was planning to go to Disney World with his family and was told to go ahead with those plans. Meanwhile, Trot Nixon is sick and Damon is still recovering from cellulitis and will not play for a few more days. Damon said yesterday was his last day of intravenous treatment.

David Wells, who had been scheduled to pitch yesterday, will take the mound today for his second spring start.

Jason Varitek was one Sox regular who turned down the opportunity to take the day off.

"I haven't played in two days," said the captain. "There's some important things that I need to do. They can't make anybody play [today], but we've got a responsibility and you've got to embrace it."

"We will not require anybody to be here," said Francona. "It's completely on a volunteer basis, but we'll probably have one of our better lineups. I had to tell a couple of them not to come. Originally some of the guys might have been a little irritable, but they understand. It's a day off, but we've got to get ready for the season."

Adam Hyzdu (who had a homer and a sensational catch Wednesday against the Cardinals) signed up to play today, which would be expected of any player trying to win a spot on the 25-man roster, but when Francona learned that the outfielder had made other plans for the day off, the manager told Hyzdu he would not be penalized for taking the day off as planned.

"It's not like you say `volunteer' but it really isn't," said Francona. "That's not the way it works around here."

"Nobody was ticked off," added Kevin Millar. "We really did volunteer to play."

Even Manny Ramirez, according to Francona.

Green team
The green hats and jerseys will be worn by the Sox today. Last year they were used to raise money for the Red Sox Foundation after their one-day appearance . . . Kevin Youkilis had a green "Kiss me, I'm Jewish" T-shirt in his locker . . . Third baseman Bill Mueller said he feels good and expects to be playing every day by the start of the season. Mueller has been taking every third day off during his recovery from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee . . . Francona indicated that Curt Schilling (who was in Washington yesterday for the congressional hearing on steroids in baseball) must have been feeling OK after Wednesday's throwing session because, "Schilling has 24-hour access to my cellphone and he uses it. If there's a problem, we would know." Schilling might pitch in a minor league game Sunday . . . Damon will be at the park today to shoot a commercial. "You win the World Series, you shoot a commercial every other day," he said . . . Most of the Sox players bolted after the rainout, intent on watching the opening round of the NCAA basketball tournament . . . Millar has Gabe Kapler's baseball card taped to his locker.