Game shifted into the bizarre

Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said it took him five rides on the stationary bike to come up with the David Ortiz shift he implemented in last night's 7-4 loss to the Red Sox.

''We've been thinking about this for a while," Maddon said. ''The topic's been broached, but we finally put it into play today. Honestly, I've been thinking and thinking about it. When I do my bike rides, I think about things like that.

''I've been involved with defense for years. When you look at the charts, there's very few balls hit on the ground on the left side. But there's a lot of balls hit into the gap."

So Maddon employed a shift in the first inning that left no infielders on the left side and six players in the outfield. Third baseman Ty Wigginton moved to left field, and the other outfielders moved over. And the right-side infielders were positioned in short right field.

''The last several years, it's crossed my mind," Maddon said. ''He's on the level with Barry Bonds as far as his hitting ability. He's just so hard to pitch to. There really are no holes. He covers everything. We're just going to keep trying. We play them 19 times. We've got to try something."

Ortiz went 2 for 5, solving the shift with a pair of shots off the Wall for doubles. He said he didn't pay much attention to the shift on his first at-bat but said it was strange when he eventually noticed it. ''If I was 0 for 20, I would have bunted," he said.

Said Adam Stern, ''That was the most impressive shift I ever saw. It was almost like a softball team, like they had a rover out there. You lay down a bunt, that's a double."

Sox manager Terry Francona said he'd never seen anything quite like it, but was amused on one of Ortiz's doubles when it looked like ''there were eight people chasing it. The guys were all over the place."

Rays center fielder Joey Gathright got punched in the face by Julian Tavarez last month, but he's not holding any grudges.

''Whatever happened in spring training happened a long time ago," said Gathright before the game. ''It's out of my mind now. Now if something else happens tonight, or whenever, then we'll take care of that when it happens. As far as spring training, that's a long time ago."

Gathright wanted to make sure everyone knew there was no love lost between him and Tavarez, but he was willing to let bygones be bygones.

''There will be no conversation between him and I, but I forgive him because I'm a forgiving person," Gathright said.

''If he says something to me, I'll say something back. If he apologizes or says anything to me, I'll talk to him, but I have no reason to go out and try to fight him. That's stupid. It's baseball, not UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship]."

Neither team had much to say about the incident.

David Wells issued an apology to Bud Selig through the Associated Press after criticizing the commissioner in spring training for ordering the Yankees to remove a sign apologizing for the absence of star players who were at the World Baseball Classic. Wells told the Hartford Courant on March 8, ''Bud Selig needs to resign. That's what he needs to do. He needs to resign and bring someone in who's capable of communicating with the Players Association and the owners, as well as the players, because there's so much hatred against Bud right now. It's a joke. Nobody likes him."

In his statement yesterday, Wells said, ''I wish to apologize for my comments of a few weeks ago regarding commissioner Bud Selig. While I disagreed then and still disagree today with Commissioner Selig's response to a sign posted at the Yankees spring training stadium regarding the World Baseball Classic, my remarks were overly harsh and should not have been directed personally at the commissioner."

According to a league source, Wells avoided a fine and/or suspension by issuing the statement.

Ron Jackson gets paid to keep Sox hitters out of prolonged slumps, to detect flaws in their swings, and to improve their mental approach at the plate. And every now and then he'll face a bigger challenge -- such as making Wily Mo Peña into a consistent hitter, one who will cut down his strikeouts and make use of his enormous ability.

''He's very coachable," said Jackson. ''It's going to be a slow process. We don't want to change things all at once. That's not good for everyone.

''He's facing a lot of lefthanders right now and he has success against them, so we don't want to get him to change things that he's successful at. So we work hard on things and, like I said, it's a long process that we'll keep after. He's a young kid with all kinds of potential. We want to make sure he keeps getting better."

Jackson said there are things he wants to see Peña do better -- such as seeing the ball longer into the mitt and hitting the ball up the middle.

''We would like to see him trust his hands," said Jackson. ''He's got great hands. He can really handle the bat, so we want to see him use those hands and track the ball a little deeper. I think that would make a big difference for him."

Another issue is Peña's bat. Jackson says it's one of the biggest in the game, about 35 inches and 33 ounces.

''It's similar to the types of bats that we used to swing when I played," Jackson said. ''But that's not something I'm even looking at right now. I know from experience that when you change someone's bat -- especially going from a bigger bat to a smaller bat -- you can really change the dynamic of someone's swing, and there's a lot that we like about Wily Mo's swing. So we're not going to touch that."

Matt Clement, who went seven strong innings last night and remained undefeated in five career starts vs. Tampa Bay, said, ''I felt like I threw the ball well for the first time in a long time, including last year. So maybe I was just trying to get back to where I was." . . . Stern was watching ESPN's ''Web Gems" and was disappointed to see his catch was No. 2. No. 1 was Johnny Damon's head-slamming catch against the wall at the Rogers Centre . . . Francona said Coco Crisp will stay behind when the team embarks on a three-city trip starting Friday. Francona hopes Crisp will be ready to play by the time the team returns. ''You've got to roll with the punches," said Crisp, who expects to take the splint off his left index finger shortly. ''Everybody wants to be out there playing. I want to get out there as soon as possible and have some fun." . . . Stern's Rule 5 obligations will be met after tonight's game, but it doesn't appear the Sox will make a move with Crisp still out.