Hillenbrand still simmering

Shea Hillenbrand, admittedly emotional himself, isn't ready to let Tuesday's episode with Josh Beckett go.

Hillenbrand took a 3-and-1 pitch with the bases loaded in the first inning and stepped toward first, thinking he had walked. An indignant Beckett came back to get Hillenbrand to ground into an inning-ending double play, then yelled in anger -- at himself for a bad inning, and at Hillenbrand, for what Beckett viewed as bad etiquette.

''I'm kind of about playing the game right," Beckett said that afternoon. ''I didn't appreciate that."

Hillenbrand, however, didn't even realize at the time that Beckett was yelling at him.

''I didn't know until I got back to the dugout," Hillenbrand said yesterday. ''I don't care what he thinks."

The incident would be forgettable, except that erupting at opposing hitters has become a regular thing with Beckett. It has occurred at least four times in the last 13 months, Tuesday included. Consider:

April 20, 2005 -- Kenny Lofton, then of the Phillies, flipped his bat after walking. Beckett called him out and the benches cleared.

''I just didn't like the way he threw the bat down," Beckett said at the time. ''I mean, it's a walk. He doesn't have to show anybody up. I walked you. So what.

''I respect Kenny Lofton and I respect his game but . . . maybe I'm asking for too much if I want him to respect the pitcher a little bit."

However, Lofton wasn't doing anything he hadn't done for most of his career, which a Marlins coach later told Beckett. A ticked Jack McKeon, the Marlins' manager, told Beckett not to waste energy by focusing on such things.

May 23, 2005 -- New York Met Victor Diaz jogged out of the box on a ball he thought would leave the park. It didn't, hitting the wall.

''I have more career wins -- which is not saying much -- than he has career home runs, so how do you give up and it not even go out?" Beckett said. ''I wasn't real pleased with the way he acted."

March 26, 2006-- Philadelphia's Ryan Howard, in Beckett's verbiage, ''pimped it" down the line, even though the ball he hit to deep center wound up settling into Adam Stern's glove.

Beckett, after that game: ''I was just expressing my concern with the way he's playing the game. I'm kind of about respecting the game."

Trot Nixon, who missed his second consecutive game last night against the Blue Jays with a strained groin, should be back in three to four days, manager Terry Francona said. ''We're probably looking at Monday, Tuesday, in that area," Francona said. ''We'll see. As soon as he says he's able and the medical people clear him we'll send him out there." . . . David Riske, though, doesn't sound close to being ready to pitch. Asked if Riske (lower back strain) will be healthy enough to come off the disabled list when he's eligible to, which is April 27, Francona said, ''I don't know if I can say right now. I don't think right now he's going to do anything until they get this thing calmed down. The last couple of days [leading up to Wednesday, when he went on the DL] he was starting to progressively get worse." Riske has pitched just once, in the second game of the season, April 4 . . . It was one year ago tonight that Dorchester's Chris House swung his arm at Gary Sheffield in the right-field corner, leading to his seven season tickets being revoked for the remainder of the 2005 season and postseason. However, House was in attendance Opening Day and has reclaimed his season's tickets. ''The feeling," said Sox spokesman John Blake, ''is he's been allowed to have his tickets back and has been told it's a zero-tolerance policy, for him and his friends." Another violation, Blake said, and House's account will be permanently revoked . . . Hee Seop Choi, who injured his left hamstring in late March and stayed behind in Florida, could join the PawSox as soon as today.

With Matt Clement gone after four-plus innings last night, the Sox rolled out a parade of relievers. Julian Tavarez, who'd been suspended to begin the season, worked two innings in his Sox debut, allowing a run on three hits. He worked out of a Clement-created jam in the fifth, stranding two runners. He got Gregg Zaun to fly to left, allowed a single to Alex Rios to load the bases, then escaped with a 5-4-3 double play . . . Mike Timlin followed, allowing a hit in one inning, while Keith Foulke worked two encouraging innings, facing the minimum six batters in the eighth and ninth . . . David Ortiz has hits in five consecutive games, batting .500 (9 for 18) with three homers and five RBIs. He homered for the third time in as many days, a feat he accomplished twice last year.