Youkilis is summoned to provide assistance
ARLINGTON, Texas -- As expected, reliever Tim Bausher was called up from Triple A Pawtucket to take the roster spot of Curt Schilling, who was officially placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with a bone bruise on his right ankle, but with the Red Sox in need of another infielder because of Mark Bellhorn's illness -- he's afflicted with the same flu symptoms that idled Bill Mueller for five straight starts -- it was only for the day.
Third baseman Kevin Youkilis, who was scratched from Pawtucket's starting lineup last night, was en route to Texas and is expected to be here in time for tonight's game. His arrival may be doubly fortuitous, since Ramon Vazquez, who started at second in Bellhorn's place last night, was walking around after the game with his upper right leg heavily wrapped.
Youkilis was on the big club's Opening Day roster but was optioned to Pawtucket April 13 after appearing in just one game, in which he had a single in two at-bats. In a dozen games with the PawSox, Youkilis batted .227 (10 for 44) but drew eight walks.
Bausher, who was claimed off waivers from the Rockies last December, had never been above Double A before this season, his fourth in pro ball. In 2003, he was playing for the Berkshire Black Bears, the independent league team based in Pittsfield, Mass., where one of his teammates was Brady Williams, oldest son of former Red Sox manager Jimy Williams.
Bausher said Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson told him at the start of the team's six-hour bus ride back from Rochester, N.Y., on Wednesday that he needed to talk with him, but didn't tell him that he'd been promoted until the team had gotten back to Rhode Island.
"I didn't know whether I had done something wrong," said Bausher, 26, whose first phone call upon receiving the news was to his mother, Mary, back home in Boyertown, Pa. "I don't think she believed it at first," Bausher said. "I never thought I'd be putting on a Red Sox uniform. That in itself is amazing."
Schilling keeps quiet
Called out by Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella for critical comments he made about Piniella on a radio show earlier this week, Schilling refused to address the issue before last night's game.
The customarily outspoken Schilling said he would not comment on his exchange with Piniella, limping past reporters in the protective boot he's wearing over his ankle.
Piniella told reporters in Baltimore, where the Devil Rays played the Orioles last night, that Schilling had not yet called him, as he had requested when a Devil Rays official placed a call to Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick, informing him of Piniella's desire to speak with the Sox pitcher. The controversy began with comments Schilling made during his weekly appearance on the "Dennis and Callahan" show on WEEI on Tuesday.
Schilling blamed Piniella for inciting last Sunday's bench-clearing skirmishes and that Piniella had "somehow forgot how the game is played." Schilling also said Devil Rays players, whom he didn't name, told him during one of the two bench-clearing incidents, "This is why we lose 100 games a year, because this idiot makes us do stuff like this."
Piniella called a clubhouse meeting Wednesday to address the issue; no Devil Rays player admitted to the manager having made that comment or anything similar, and Aubrey Huff of the Devil Rays said Schilling "made that up."
On his radio show before last night's game, Sox general manager Theo Epstein called Schilling's remarks and the fallout they caused "regrettable."
Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, irate after nearly being hit in the head by a pitch by Devil Rays reliever Lance Carter, had indirectly placed some blame on Piniella after the game. "They have to play professional," Ortiz said. "You've got a wild bunch of young players out there, teach them how to play the game."
Asked about Schilling's comments regarding Piniella, Ortiz said: "I got no comment about Lou. Lou is the manager, I got nothing to do with the manager, I got things to do with whoever's throwing at me. I don't care what Lou does, that's his problem. Like anyone else, hitting people out there is not fair.
"If you're going to throw at somebody, you throw middle of the body, not at the head. I don't care what the union says, I don't care what anybody says, if you try to hit me in the head on purpose, you'd better knock me out because I'm coming back to get you."
Mills fills in
Terry Francona, who would have been allowed to remain at the ballpark last night but not in the dugout or clubhouse as he started his three-game suspension, said he was returning to the team's hotel to watch the game. Piniella watched the Devil Rays from the pressbox in Baltimore.
Last night was the seventh game that Sox bench coach Brad Mills has managed, at least in part, this season. Mills managed four full games -- the last game of the opening series against the Yankees and a three-game set in Toronto -- after Francona was hospitalized with what was described as a viral condition after experiencing tightness in his chest. He also took over for Francona in the two games in which the Sox manager was ejected.
