Kapler's injury will leave the Sox scrambling

TORONTO--They waited for Gabe Kapler to get back on his feet, Terry Francona said, then look into the Red Sox dugout sheepishly and laugh, so they could laugh right back at him. Falling down while running the bases ahead of a guy who'd just hit a home run?

What a hoot.

Except Kapler did not get up, could not get up, not on his own. Lying on the synthetic green rug of Toronto's Rogers Centre, halfway between second and third after Tony Graffanino's fifth-inning home run, the Sox center fielder already knew what would be announced in the press box shortly thereafter: He had ruptured his left Achilles' tendon.

What a horror.

Third base coach Dale Sveum was the first member of the Sox to reach Kapler's side.

''Obviously I saw him trip," Sveum said. ''I thought he was going to get up. He wasn't grabbing anything, and it looked like he was smiling. But when I got to him, he said, 'It's blown out.' He knew."

Kapler, one of the few players who had the luxury of returning to a team he had left of his own volition when he signed with Japan's Yomiuri Giants days after the 2004 World Series, won't be able to realize his hope of helping the Red Sox defend that title. He almost certainly will miss next season as well, if similar injuries sustained by such big leaguers as Olmedo Saenz and Eduardo Perez are any indicator: They both needed close to a year to recover, and 12 to 18 months is the normal projection for rehabilitation for such injuries.

The Achilles' tendon, located at the back of the lower leg, connects the calf muscle to the heel.

''You know I don't usually have a problem expressing myself, but I haven't really had a chance to allow it to sink in," said Kapler, who stood on crutches outside the Sox dressing room after Boston's 5-3 win over Toronto.

''I'm sure there's going to come a time when reality's going to hit me and I'm going to know it's going to be awhile before I can help my teammates. That's going to be hard for me."

With Johnny Damon back home in Boston nursing a sore throwing shoulder, and Rule 5 pickup Adam Stern also unavailable for the same reason, the Sox were down to their last healthy center fielder last night, and lost him on circumstances almost too bizarre to contemplate. Kapler was on base only because he had knocked the ball out of the glove of Blue Jays first baseman Shea Hillenbrand on a two-out play in the fifth inning, when Hillenbrand attempted to tag Kapler after a throw from third baseman Corey Koskie drew him off the bag. Koskie was charged with an error.

Kapler, 30, was running hard when the next batter, Graffanino, hit a line drive to left field, uncertain whether it had enough loft to clear the 10-foot high padded wall. Kapler said he saw the ball go over the fence just as his legs gave way underneath him.

''I can't really describe it other than it felt like I got hit or popped in the back of my ankle," he said. ''I haven't looked at the tape and didn't really see what happened. All I know is I didn't do a good job of staying on my feet."

While team trainer Jim Rowe, who came to Kapler's aid along with assistant Chang Lee, was urging Kapler not to move as they assisted him to his feet, Kapler had other notions.

''He wanted to finish it out [score the run]," Sveum said. ''The guy plays the game like a middle linebacker."

Instead of going home, Kapler was loaded onto a cart and taken off the field, leading to a scene so rare that an umpiring crew that included John Hirschbeck, a big-league ump for over 22 years, and Wally Bell (13 years), had never witnessed it. While Graffanino waited at second base -- he would have been out if he had passed the runner -- a pinch runner, Alejandro Machado, entered the game.

That substitution was allowed under the Official Rules of Major League Baseball 5.10 (c), which reads: ''When an accident incapacitates a player or an umpire:

(1) If an accident to a runner is such as to prevent him from proceeding to a base to which he is entitled, as on a home run hit out of the playing field . . . a substitute runner shall be permitted to complete the play."

Damon, who missed the Toronto series with inflammation in his left shoulder -- an MRI showed no serious structural damage -- is not certain of being ready to play tonight. Stern played catch yesterday for the first time since hurting his shoulder; he, too, is not ready to play. Machado, who primarily played the infield in Pawtucket, finished last night's game in center field and has played a few innings there since his callup Sept. 1.

Francona said last night the team will summon veteran Adam Hyzdu, who was acquired by the team from San Diego in a mid-July trade and appeared in five games for the Sox, going hitless in six at-bats, before being outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket. The PawSox completed their season last week.

''I'm hoping Johnny Damon shows up and is really healthy," said Francona, whose team is maintaining its lead in the AL East because David Ortiz has hoisted it on his shoulders, Ortiz breaking a 3-all tie with his 42d home run in the eighth inning last night.

''You know what? We're the Red Sox, we're going to do it together. That's how we approach it. I believe it. They believe it."

It's the kind of mind-set that would be readily embraced by Kapler, even as his season came to a shocking and abrupt end. He'd signed with Yomiuri, the legendary Japanese team, but was miserable there, played badly, and was eventually released, paving the way for his return to the Sox. He re-signed with the Sox on July 15, his return universally applauded in a clubhouse that had lamented his departure.

''The last thing I'm going to try to do is figure out what went wrong or how or why," he said quietly. ''Real bizarre. Real bizarre. It's a bump in the road. But it's nothing I can't manage. It's going to be challenging. This season has been challenging for me. It's going to be challenging to get where I need to be and help this team win. Whenever that may be."