Crisp won't swing into action early

Coco Crisp, who had hoped to return before May 15, said yesterday that if he now has to bet on the over-under, he might go with ''over a couple days."

He intends to begin taking practice swings early next week, then begin hitting off a tee and hitting soft toss as the week progresses. At some point -- probably in about a week and a half, he said -- he expects to go out and play a couple of games on a rehab assignment.

The Red Sox play a three-game series in Baltimore May 15-17, then have an offday May 18, before opening a series in Philadelphia May 19. If Crisp doesn't return until the 19th, he will have missed 35 games and 40 days.

When he does return he'll reclaim his spot atop the order, pushing out Kevin Youkilis, who went into last night leading all leadoff hitters in on-base percentage (.420). It might make some sense, instead of sending him back to the eighth spot, to bat Youkilis second. Mark Loretta, the current No. 2 hitter, went into last night batting .217 with a .274 OBP.

''I'm not going to do the batting order two weeks ahead of time," manager Terry Francona said. ''Two weeks is a lifetime. When the time comes to get Coco back, I'll do what I think is best for the lineup. But that's a long way away. I think Youkilis can hit anywhere in the lineup."

Josh Beckett will start Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. That much Francona has announced. If the Sox stay in order, Matt Clement would pitch Wednesday and Curt Schilling Thursday. However, the Sox have an offday Monday, and Schilling could pitch Wednesday on normal rest. He indicated after last night's game that he believes that will happen.

If indeed the Sox pitch Schilling Wednesday, they almost certainly would follow with Tim Wakefield Thursday on normal rest, pushing Clement to Friday against Texas on seven days' rest.

''No idea," Clement said yesterday, when asked if he's been told of this possibility. ''Can't help you."

Though the move might agitate Clement, who's coming off his best start of the season (6 innings, 2 hits, 1 run vs. Toronto Thursday), it would make sense. Wakefield is 3-4 with a 3.15 ERA in 11 regular-season starts against the Yankees dating to September 2003. At Yankee Stadium, in five starts dating to September '03, he's 1-2 with a 1.91 ERA.

Clement, in three starts against the Yankees, is 1-1 with a 5.44 ERA. He failed to complete five innings in two of those three starts.

Yankees manager Joe Torre, meanwhile, announced the Yankees will bypass Jaret Wright and pitch Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, and Shawn Chacon, in that order, against the Sox.

David Ortiz, known to tell umpires what he thinks when he doesn't agree with a call, showed uncharacteristic patience Thursday night during his second at-bat against Toronto's Josh Towers. Ortiz had walked on four pitches his first time up and had gone ahead, 3 and 0, in his second at-bat.

He took the fourth pitch for a called strike. He took the next pitch (which was high) for a called strike, running the count full. Realizing the umpire was calling a high strike, Ortiz offered an awkward three-quarter swing and miss, completing one of his most unsettled at-bats of the year. But he didn't argue.

Ortiz said he's attempting to cut back on his complaining, so as not to hurt himself or his team.

''When I'm not 100 percent sure, I don't say anything," he said. ''But when I know it's a ball sometimes, not all the time, I let them know. I just want you to know that that pitch is not a strike. Maybe one or two umpires [listen].

''I talked to this one umpire, Laz Diaz, one day after he [called] me out with a pitch. I was a little upset. When I went back to hit the next time, I'm digging my hole, and I told him, 'Diaz, that pitch you called me out with, that was not a good pitch. I'm not going to argue anymore. I don't want to get caught in that. But I want you to check that out better.'

''He said, 'All right, I gotcha.' Same pitch he called a ball."

Ortiz, in that at-bat, which was April 16, went on to walk.

''But not all of them do that," said Ortiz, who did bark last night after taking a called strike on the first pitch of his sixth-inning at-bat in which he eventually doubled home three runs. ''Some of them, you walk by and say, 'Hi,' to them and they act like they are the [show]. What is that? You aren't the [show]. I'm the [show]. They come here to watch me, not you, so why you got to take it personal?

''I'm trying to work with them. Just to see things change. I feel like Pete Rose sometimes. You either swing or you don't hit. You go back to the bench. But there's better ways to deal with them. Hopefully, they understand."

Stats Inc. reports that major league hitters blasted 845 home runs in April, the most April homers since 2001 and the third-highest April total in the expansion era (1961-2006). Last year there were 663 homers in 350 April games, an average of 1.89 per game. This April there were 845 in 366 games, an average of 2.31 per game.

Greg Rybarczyk, creator of Hit Tracker (www.hittrackeronline.com), began charting home runs last season, so his data is somewhat incomplete. But, he does offer a possible explanation.

''I don't have enough apples-to-apples data to be sure, but I suspect that the batch of balls we have this year might be livelier than the 2005 version of the same," he said. ''It's the speed-off-bat data I've seen for a few homers that has me wondering.

''Out of 267 homers I formally analyzed last year, Ortiz's walkoff [Sept. 6 off Scot Shields] was tops at 122.5 miles per hour. This year, there have been five homers already higher than that: 127.3, 125.7, 125.4, 123.4, 122.8 (Reggie Abercrombie, Ryan Howard, Jim Thome, Adam Dunn, Thome). Those are the right names, and I'm not saying Papi's was as hard as you can hit it, but I am just surprised that those balls were so much harder hit than Papi's, almost 5 miles per hour faster. That is a huge difference at the top end of the scale.

''I think we are going to see an epidemic of homers. I hope Bud [Selig] has ordered a lot of baseballs."

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle reported on his blog yesterday that the Astros offered Roger Clemens $20 million for five months. Justice did not say when the offer was made. Clemens's agent, Randy Hendricks, did not return messages left the last two days. In an e-mail to the New York Times two days ago, Hendricks said Clemens does not intend to play in May and will make a decision before June 15 . . . Baltimore lefthander Erik Bedard gets the ball today. To this point, any lefthander has been bad news for the Sox. Entering last night, righthanded starters were 4-8 with a 6.14 ERA against the Sox, according to statistical maven Chuck Waseleski. Lefthanded starters were 6-3 with a 2.25 ERA. The Sox had hit .293 vs. righthanded starters and just .222 against lefthanded starters . . . Ortiz claims to be seeing a difference philosophy this season out of the Baltimore pitchers. He can tell, he said, that Leo Mazzone has brought the style he deployed in Atlanta to Baltimore. ''This team, they've been pitching totally different," Ortiz said. ''New pitching coach. It's not like them challenging [hitters] like they used to. They just hit their spots." . . . Mike Lowell went a long way to make a stellar diving catch of a bunt popped foul by Brandon Fahey to begin last night's game. ''I wanted [Jason Varitek] to catch it," Lowell said, ''but I saw him looking right at me." So the third baseman extended himself and reeled it in . . . Lowell piled up three doubles in a game for the fifth time in his career and second time this season . . . Ten of Ortiz's 27 RBIs have come with two outs.