It all adds up for these two

NEW YORK -- Since April 1997, the beginning of his second big league season, Edgar Renteria had worn No. 3. That was, until he signed with the Red Sox in the offseason, three days after David Wells signed.

Wells chose No. 3, and Renteria settled on No. 16. Yesterday, they switched. Renteria paid Wells to make the trade, though the shortstop, who's earning $40 million over four seasons with the Sox, wouldn't say how much, only ''a lot."

''I like it," Renteria said. ''We were talking about doing it for three or four days. That's my favorite number, my lucky number."

Wells wasn't available before the game to give his side of the story, since he was pitching last night. But, it's worth noting that Wells went to the Yankee Stadium mound last night wearing the number (16) worn by the greatest lefty in Yankee history, Whitey Ford, and Wells always has been rather intrigued, to say the least, with Yankee lore.

Ford went 236-106 with a 2.75 ERA with New York between 1950 and 1967.

Wells, when he came to New York in 1997, asked for Babe Ruth's No. 3, but that was retired in 1948. Wells asked for No. 03, was denied, and went with No. 33.

Johnny Damon yesterday suggested Wells wear No. 333 (Jason Varitek has 33). Sox general manager Theo Epstein, in a Wall Street Journal article about player numbers published earlier this month, made the same joke.

''I assumed, if anything, he'd go for the three digits to fill out that jersey," Epstein told the Journal. ''There's a lot of white space there."

Varitek sits

And on the seventh day, Varitek rested. The Sox catcher, who'd played in 11 consecutive games, sat down last night, allowing Kelly Shoppach to make the first start of his major league career.

''He can't catch every game," said manager Terry Francona. ''That's not intelligent, not realistic. We don't want to run him into the ground."

Varitek's career numbers against Mike Mussina (4 for 44, 22 strikeouts, 3 walks) certainly made taking a night off convenient.

Entering last night, Varitek had appeared in 40 of 48 games, starting 39. But he's hit remarkably well despite the workload, posting a .329 average with 10 homers and 19 RBIs in 152 at-bats. A year ago he didn't hit his 10th homer until July 10.

He's hit .421 (16 for 38) with four homers righthanded and .304 (34 for 112) with six homers lefthanded.

''Righthanded, he's been so good," Francona said. ''Righthanded, you've seen some balls just jump off his bat."

The key to Varitek's season thus far?

''He's kept his stroke, more consistently, knock on wood," Francona said. ''There's a lot of reasons he can lose it, not just physically. Things he does, and asking what we ask of him, I think he can get run down, which I think leads to, not giving away at-bats, but taking some 0-fers. I think the way he concentrates and takes care of that staff, there are times he's up second in the inning and he's still got his pitcher right there [talking to him]."

On the road again

Last night marked the Sox' American League-leading 30th road game in 49 games. They've spent 19 of 29 days this month on the road. The club has had three days without a game, but only one of those was spent at home. One of the three was an offday on the road (in Seattle) and another was the day the club played in the Hall of Fame exhibition game at Cooperstown, N.Y. ''It's definitely been a factor," said Damon. ''It's been pretty huge. And also, we lost the offday at Cooperstown. I haven't unpacked my bags at home this year. I get to unpack a bit the next few days." The Sox were 55-26 at home last year with a .304 team batting average and 43-38 on the road with a .260 average. This season, they're 13-6 at Fenway Park but just 14-16 on the road, having lost eight of their last 12 outside of Boston. The Sox are hitting .286 at Fenway with a 3.84 ERA. Outside of Boston, they entered last night hitting .280 as a team with a 5.42 ERA. They come home for seven days for four games vs. Baltimore and three vs. the Angels before visiting St. Louis and Chicago (the Cubs) . . . Yankees cleanup hitter Hideki Matsui was dropped to sixth in the lineup last night, supplanted by Alex Rodriguez, who had been hitting fifth. Matsui, before last night, had taken 176 of his 193 at-bats in the cleanup spot. He was the Yankees' designated hitter, something he'd never done in his major league career. Matsui, who turns 31 next month, entered last night homerless in 199 plate appearances dating to April 8. He homered Opening Night off Matt Mantei, the next day off Matt Clement, two days later off Baltimore's B.J. Ryan, and hasn't gone deep since. Matsui, who homered 31 times last season, is in the last year of a three-year, $21-million contract. After going 0 for 3 last night, he's hitting .260 with 34 RBIs.

Adding on

Curt Schilling hasn't pitched in more than five weeks, but his ERA has gone up. In the wake of an appeal by the Toronto Blue Jays following the April 18 game at Fenway Park, Schilling has been assessed an additional two earned runs that were previously unearned. In the fourth inning that day, Manny Ramirez lost balls in the sun hit by Orlando Hudson and Frank Catalanotto. Initially, both were ruled errors, though the official scorer changed Catalanotto's ball to a hit later in the day. Since, following the Jays' appeal to the official scorer and the commissioner's office, the Hudson ball was ruled a hit as well. Thus, Schilling's ERA climbed from 7.13 to 8.15 . . . Yesterday in this space it was reported that the Sox had 21 singles Saturday, three shy of a club record. In fact, the Sox had 23 singles, one shy of a club record . . . Schilling will undergo strength and conditioning testing today to determine whether he's prepared to begin throwing off a mound . . . Doug Mirabelli will see a hand specialist tomorrow for an examination of his sprained left wrist. Mirabelli, who has been throwing batting practice and playing catch, has not yet been cleared to swing a bat. He's eligible to come off the disabled list Friday . . . The Yankees have sold out seven games this season at the Stadium including all six vs. the Sox . . . David Ortiz's third-inning homer into the black hitter's background in center was the 28th ball hit there since the Stadium was remodeled in 1976. Twenty-five have come in the regular season, three in the postseason. Rodriguez hit a ball into the black April 6 of this season off Tim Wakefield . . . Worcester's Tanyon Sturtze, who had Gabe Kapler in a head lock last July 24 until Trot Nixon came to Kapler's aid, hit Nixon with a ninth-inning pitch last night. Nixon, asked if Sturtze's fastball to his ribcage was intentional, said: ''Yeah, it was. It doesn't matter. I'm fine. I know it was on purpose. I'm not going to waste my time [charging the mound]. I don't know if it was [retribution for] last year or because he can't get me out. I'm sure he'll deny it."