Francona had patchwork plan up his sleeve

For a reason to smile at the ballpark, it was hard to top the Duncans, Patrick and Patrick of Everett, yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park. Father's Day on Yawkey Way, and Patrick the Younger was holding aloft his son, 9-month-old Jonathan Michael Duncan, while holding a sign that read, ''I Was Born the Day the Sox Won the World Series."

''This is his second game," said a beaming Patrick the Elder, the boy's grandfather. ''His first game was against the Yankees. The Sox won, too."

By the end of the afternoon, Red Sox manager Terry Francona had his own reasons to smile, having watched his club easily dispose of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-0, even though he was missing his leadoff man, Johnny Damon, and his cleanup hitter, Manny Ramírez.

Damon didn't play because Francona basically demanded he take the day off to rest his ailing right shoulder, which is hurting far worse than he has let on.

''It hurts pretty bad -- I'm feeling it pretty much every swing," Damon said. ''Fifteen days [on the disabled list] is probably what would help it, but I'm not that kind of person. I know I can help this team even if I'm not totally healthy.

''But I know what it takes for a team to be a winning team. I know Kevin [Millar] and Jay [Payton] are swinging the bat really well. I know we have to get [John] Olerud in there to help us out. I know I need to rest my shoulder. Maybe I need to take a day or so off once a week to rest it. That's not bad. I'd still be playing around 150 games."

Pretty much everybody associated with the Sox knew Ramírez, plunked just above his left foot by a pitch Saturday night, wouldn't be playing yesterday, even though new NESN analyst Gary DiSarcina, the former Angels shortstop, practically demanded that Ramírez suck it up, strap on a shinguard, and play, the way his former teammate, Chili Davis, used to after getting hit by a pitch.

The issue is accountability: Your highest-paid player is the guy you hope figures out that his team needs him. Like a Don Baylor or a Craig Biggio, guys who know what it is like to be drilled with regularity and would never think that was a reason to sit.

But Francona didn't even bother to wait to see how Ramírez felt yesterday morning; he assumed after taking Ramírez out of Saturday's game that he wouldn't want to play and gave a heads-up to Payton and Olerud that they would be playing.

''Don't be too hard on Manny," one teammate advised. ''He got hit pretty good. He wouldn't have been of much use to us."

Play him yesterday, Francona said before the game, and he ran the risk of something happening that would put Ramírez out for a week. That's not something you want to do with the team headed for Cleveland, winners of nine straight, and Philadelphia, which is 2 1/2 games out of the NL East lead.

Besides, Francona said after the Sox scored early and often against Pirates starter Kip Wells, a five-run third all but settling the issue, ''We had a good lineup in there. Obviously, we don't want to miss Johnny and Manny for a long period of time, but I was actually pretty comfortable with that lineup out there."

Nixon, designated leadoff man, singled to touch off the Sox' five-run rally and doubled and scored in the fourth to make it 7-0. Millar, batting cleanup in Ramírez's spot, singled in the second and scored the Sox' first run, and hit a sacrifice fly in each of his next two at-bats. Payton, who made a show of his displeasure at being a part-timer when he walked to his position when subbing for Ramírez Tuesday night, walked, hit a two-run home run, and singled and scored. Olerud did not have a hit, but made an exquisite play in the fourth, showing off the longest wingspan this side of Tayshaun Prince to snag a throw from third baseman Bill Mueller.

That was the only time Sox starter Matt Clement (8-1) faced even a hint of peril while collaborating with Alan Embree -- yes, you read that right -- on the staff's league-leading sixth shutout of the season. Clement's effort -- checking the Pirates on three hits and a walk while whiffing nine in seven innings -- has come to be expected in a season that almost certainly will be rewarded with his first All-Star nod.

Staff ace, anyone?

''When I heard he was interested in coming here, I thought, 'Man, that's outstanding,'" said Mueller, who used to sit next to Clement on the team's flights when both were with the Cubs and shared his interest in Bible study and chapel. ''He's an excellent pitcher with a great head on his shoulders. He always goes out there and competes, no matter what the numbers are. You want a guy who competes from April to October, and that's what he does."

Embree, meanwhile, has been something of a staff albatross by his own admission, but yesterday made a compelling case that, like Keith Foulke, his worst days are behind him. He pitched two innings, striking out three, and stranded Jack Wilson on third after his one-out triple in the eighth, whiffing Michael Restovich and inducing Tike Redman to tap back to the mound.

''I was getting in dangerous waters out there," Embree said, referring to the damage done to his self-esteem by allowing seven home runs and 8 of 18 inherited runners to score before yesterday. ''You think, 'What are you going to do, how's he going to get out of it, does he think he's going to get out of it?' That's what happens when you get in a self-doubt mode.

''I just tried to spin everything into a positive. It was guaranteed before that that run was coming in. That felt good today, that it didn't."

An effective Embree would buy the Sox some time. They're in the market for pitching. They've asked about Jason Schmidt, but the Giants want a ton in return for their ace, and if Curt Schilling is healthy, the Sox don't need him. Schilling would almost certainly bump Bronson Arroyo to the bullpen, where he would assume the role of long man currently occupied by John Halama. Unless Matt Mantei turns it around, the Sox will be looking for someone like Ricky Bottalico in Milwaukee or David Weathers in Cincinnati as a setup man. And if the Sox can satisfy Payton's desire to be traded, that would expedite Gabe Kapler's return from Japan, a very viable option.

In the meantime, though, the Sox, who are 16-20 on the road with a staff ERA of 5.46, face the challenge of playing better away from Yawkey Way.

''If [David] Wells pitches like he's been pitching, we'll be OK," Francona said of tonight's starter, who contributed seven innings of one-hit ball last Tuesday as part of this 5-1 homestand. ''I know we're playing hot teams on the road, where our record's not the same. But that's our responsibility, to maintain this and scrap for wins."