Wells takes beating on hill

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- This was not David Wells's fight.

Wells, who knows a thing or two about sucker punches -- he lost a couple of teeth when a knucklehead whacked him upside the head in a Manhattan diner a few years ago -- already had put in his four innings and was out of uniform when the Fracas at the Fort broke out yesterday, with Julián Tavárez the pugilist of record.

Wells merely took his beating -- seven hits and six runs, including home runs by Tampa Bay's Jonny Gomes and Toby Hall in a six-run third -- and went home, satisfied that all of his principal parts, most notably his surgically repaired right knee and logic-defying left arm, remained in working order.

''I'm out there doing my thing, doing everything," said Wells, who plans to stay here, pitch Sunday in minor league camp, fly to Texas to join the team that night, then ''probably" pitch April 7 in Pawtucket in advance of his scheduled start April 12 in Boston, though Terry Francona did not make the Pawsox visit official.

''I'm not babying it," Wells said of his knee, which he had propped up on a table in the middle of the clubhouse after his outing. ''Do I wish it felt better? Yeah. Do I think I'm good enough on the mound? I'm not holding back. If I was, I probably shouldn't be out there pitching.

''I'm going to test it. If it feels good, that's fine."

Oh, yes, the game: Francona started what likely will be the lineup that faces Texas's Kevin Millwood next Monday, and it went 1 through 9 in scoring four runs on four hits in the first inning against former Sox lefty Casey Fossum. The Sox added another three-spot in the second, another run in the fourth, and two more before Fossum departed with one out in the fifth (his line: 4 1/3 IP, 10 H, 10 ER, 4 BB's, 2 K's).

The D-Rays caught the Sox with a run in the seventh and four during the fight-filled eighth, when Jonathan Papelbon, his adrenaline rush perhaps used up during his sprint from the pen to come to Tavárez's defense, didn't have the usual life on his fastball. But the Sox pulled it out, 12-11, in the bottom of the ninth, Adam Stern collecting a big hit and Hee Seop Choi drawing a bases-loaded walk to end it.

Choi had been hit by a pitch by Matt Franklin in the eighth, which drew a warning to both benches from the umpires, but no one in the Sox clubhouse was charging ill intent on Franklin's part.

With Opening Day just a week away, David Ortiz said he didn't know when the club would sign him to an extension. Ortiz had expressed some confidence in January that a deal would be done by the start of the season, and John W. Henry had echoed Ortiz's comments that the club had signaled to him its willingness to negotiate an extension expeditiously. ''I told my agent when he got the word to let me know," Ortiz said. ''I don't want those thoughts in my head." . . . Keith Foulke threw his third perfect inning of spring (including one in a minor league game), striking out one. His velocity remained at 85-86 . . . Tony Graffanino, the infielder in limbo, was expected to clear waivers yesterday, paving the way for another club to sign him without having to pick up the $2.2 million contract he got from the Sox. The Sox are on the hook for one-fourth of that money.

Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said Rhode Island's Rocco Baldelli likely will open the season on the DL. Baldelli, who missed last season after blowing out his knee and then his elbow, now is slowed by a bad hamstring . . . Coco Crisp stole his seventh base of the spring . . . Former Sox prospect Hanley Ramírez has won the starting shortstop job for the Marlins. The guy he beat out, Robert Andino, left camp in a huff . . . MLB security chief Kevin Hallinan held his annual briefing for the club before the workout . . . Among the players going to Sarasota tonight to face the Reds: Crisp, Choi, Wily Mo Peña, Josh Bard, Kevin Youkilis (playing third), and Matt Clement . . . Curt Schilling goes tomorrow here against the Pirates, Tim Wakefield here against the Reds (and most likely Bronson Arroyo) Thursday.