Miller in need of some first aid

Wade Miller leaned back, arms folded, and digested the information. He knew his first inning performances haven't been good. He just didn't realize how bad. He was told he has a 10.50 first inning ERA, as he battles back from a frayed rotator cuff suffered last season. He was told he has a 3.86 in all other innings.

''Huh," he said. He's been trying to work his way past the abysmal innings to the acceptable ones. He's trying to eliminate the first entirely, really. It just hasn't worked.

Miller has abandoned the strict pre-start strategy most pitchers adopt. They keep to a routine before appearances. He's way past that.

''I've tried everything," said Miller, who makes his 13th start today against the Devil Rays. ''[Today] I'm going to try something else new, see if that works. I've tried running a lot before games. I've tried to get a good sweat going out there. Do a lot of shoulder exercises before. Pretty much everything from not doing anything to doing a lot and everything in between, that's what I've tried."

His shoulder has been day-to-day. Good one day, bad the next. He has had to ride out the pain and soreness and skewed stats. He has had to face a winless streak that now stretches to seven. His last victory came May 31, bringing his record to 2-1 with a 4.85 ERA. It wasn't bad, maybe more than the Red Sox could have asked from a pitcher who hadn't pitched for 10 months, a guy with a shredded shoulder.

''I've been told this is going to be a big battle year for me," Miller said. ''You're going to be going out there, you're not going to have your best stuff, what you're used to. And next year you're going to feel a lot better. You want to do well, but obviously, when you think about it, this is what everyone's been telling me to prepare my head for."

It might not all be his pitching, though, at least as it relates to the paucity of wins. Miller has gotten just 4.8 runs per game, tied with Tim Wakefield for the lowest on the team prior to the knuckleballer's start last night. Bronson Arroyo gets 5.1. Matt Clement, 6.1. David Wells, 6.9. It makes a difference.

It does not make the entire difference.

Miller has been streaky and inconsistent. He needs to find a rhythm. He needs to find it earlier. Score it 50 percent mechanics, 50 percent injury. That's what the past four days have been devoted to, reclaiming his pitching during his lengthy layoff.

''It's just my shoulder getting ready for a game right now," said Miller, who got eight days in between starts because of the All-Star game.

''It takes a little more time than it has in the past and obviously it shows in that first inning. But I've always been that type of pitcher where if you're going to get me, you're going to get me early -- first couple innings. It just so happens now you're going to get me in the first inning pretty good."

Jason Varitek knows almost immediately whether it's going to be a 2005 first inning or not. He knows when Miller has it. And, more often than not this season, he knows when he doesn't.

''I can just kind of tell by the location," Varitek said. ''If he seems to be right where he wants to be, the ball comes out clean.Sometimes it's not as clean, he has to battle to find it. And when he finds it, he's very successful."

Like in 2001 with the Houston Astros when Miller was 16-8 with a 3.40 ERA. Like in 2002 when he went 15-4, 3.28. Like that May 31 start.

That was seven innings of one-run ball.

And when he doesn't find it? He sinks the Sox early. Like against Pittsburgh June 17 when he gave up three runs in the first inning. Like in Texas July 4 when he gave up three in the first inning. He's given up 15 runs (14 earned) in the first innings.

He sees hope, though, if he can just get through that first.

''I know I can win games without being 100 percent, without being exactly perfect," Miller said. ''I know I can win games like that. I know I can keep my team in a lot of games, pitching the way I am right now.

''I know I'm just an inning away from pitching really good games right now."