Peņa again blown off course in right

It was windy yesterday, so windy that Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn acknowledged shelving his cut fastball because the wind ''was making my fastball move all over the place." And it was blowing, at times up to 21 miles per hour, right at Wily Mo Peña in right field. Quite a combination.

In the third inning, Jose Lopez shot a ball to right that was sinking fast near the line. It landed just short of Peña and shot past him. He yanked up the emergency brake and kicked it into reverse, though not at high gear. If center fielder Dustan Mohr had not backed up the play, Lopez would have been running all the way home. Peña was roundly booed.

''It was tough," Peña said of the wind. ''The ball just died. I just have to make sure I go get it."

What were the fans telling him?

''They told me maybe I catch that ball, but do the best I can if I don't get it," Peña said.

''You can't tell a guy not to go for a ball," manager Terry Francona said, ''because if he makes the catch, it's a great catch."

In the sixth, Raul Ibanez sent a ball deep into the right-field corner. Peña let it bounce off the side wall and the end wall. Feeling it was safe to pick the ball up, he tried but bobbled it. Ibanez, who appeared to have been slowing as he neared second, turned it on again, reaching third. The play initially was scored a double with an error, but the official scorer later changed it to a triple.

In the eighth, Lopez hit a ball into shallow right that slowly bounced toward Peña. Fenway's masses could be heard collectively gasping. When Peña gloved it, most of the fans seated between home plate and the right-field foul pole gave him a standing ovation.

Peña, soon thereafter, cupped his glove around his mouth and appeared to be communicating with the fans.

''They were talking about me: 'We love you,' " he said. ''I was laughing. I was like, 'Thank you.' "

That now makes four misplays for Peña this homestand, though zero errors. He misplayed Frank Catalanotto's deep fly ball into a two-run homer Tuesday, and misplayed an Ibanez liner into a ground-rule double Saturday.

Yesterday, he also appeared to slow up after grounding to second in the second inning. Lopez, the second baseman, momentarily let the ball slip through him, and Peña, who clearly ran harder the last couple of steps, most likely would have reached had he run it out from the start.

''We address those things," Francona said.

Trot Nixon, who missed his fifth game yesterday with a strained groin, will return to right field and the No. 5 hole in the lineup today. The Sox face righthander Gil Meche this morning, then get Tampa Bay lefthander Casey Fossum tomorrow, meaning Nixon will sit. ''That would give him the next day to bounce back and not overdo it," Francona said . . . The wind made for a handful of adventures beyond Peña's. Mark Loretta's first-inning double looked catchable and wind-aided. Alex Gonzalez's game-winning single seemed to surprise capable Seattle center fielder Jeremy Reed, falling short and off to his side. In the eighth, Manny Ramírez caught two balls awkwardly, one leaping on the warning track, one reaching out over his shoes going toward the line. ''I thought he was going to catch it easy," said Mohr, ''And then I saw the ball going sharply down." Mohr shifted to right field for the ninth, with Peña out and Adam Stern in to play center. And the first ball, a sharp liner off Adrian Beltre's bat, found Mohr. Just about the whole right-field grandstand, relieved to see him, stood and cheered. But, factoring in the sun and the wind, Mohr said: ''The ball Beltre hit had a chance to hit me in the face. You might have seen my right hand here [near my face]." . . . Ichiro Suzuki, a .330 career hitter, is 0 for 12 in the series with three strikeouts and is batting just .185. Is his confidence down? ''It is possible that there is more," Suzuki said yesterday, ''but there is not a chance I have less." . . . With a 3-2 lead entering the ninth, Francona opted to keep Kevin Youkilis at first rather than bring in J.T. Snow. ''If we'd have scored one more run I probably would have made the change," Francona said. ''One-run game, their closer is lefthanded, if something happens we get awfully lefthanded [in the lineup]."

Say what you will about backup catcher Josh Bard, but do not say he lacks a sense of humor. Bard, who has five passed balls in his three starts, received a package in the mail containing blue ski goggles, optic-nerve sunglasses, and a note. ''I don't care who you are, that's funny," Bard said. ''The thing that's funny is the guy was serious. He's a doctor. Look how big these things are. They aren't going to fit under my mask." Bard might actually use the goggles; a Colorado resident, he enjoys the slopes . . . Mohr, in his last 11 plate appearances: 7 Ks, 2 walks, 2 hits. He's whiffed in his last five official at-bats and 7 of his last 9 . . . Jason Varitek, who swiped two bases all of last season, stole second yesterday on a lefthander (Washburn) no less . . . Odd stat of the day: Through 12 games, the Sox have yet to have a reliever record a win or a loss. Opposing starters have earned all 12 decisions as well . . . The Sox improved to 4-0 in one-run games. They were 27-15 in one-run games in '05.

Jonathan Papelbon's sixth save tied the Sox rookie record for saves in a month, established in August 1990 by Jeff Gray. The major league record for saves by a rookie in April is reachable: Mike MacDougal's nine in 2003 with Kansas City . . . The Sox clubhouse, usually full of chatter pregame, quieted at about noon. Two hours before the game, on two clubhouse TVs, a segment aired on ESPN's ''SportsCenter" detailing the life and death of Dennis Thomson, who in 2004 was killed by an allegedly drunk driver while in the Air Force in Mississippi. Thomson, who attended North Quincy High School, is one of the fans pictured on a billboard above Brookline Avenue. The billboard, an advertisement for the 2006 Sox season, shows Thomson and others congratulating Nixon after his walkoff home run beat the A's in Game 3 of the 2003 ALDS. The team, at the time the billboard was put up, was unaware Thomson had died. About half of the team was in the room yesterday, and everyone present -- players, staff, and media -- stopped to quietly watch the segment . . . Lenny DiNardo makes his second major league start today. He's 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA in his only start (a loss Sept. 2, 2005 vs. Baltimore), 0-0 with a 3.67 ERA in 31 relief appearances . . . What a way to start the workweek today if you live in Seattle: cereal, milk, and Mariners baseball, all at 8:05 a.m.