Injury stops Wells before he can start again

TORONTO -- David Wells was trying his best to be a medical miracle.

Whacked off the right kneecap with a line drive Friday night, Wells has made better progress than he thought, but his attempt to show that he could make his scheduled start tomorrow didn't convince the Red Sox, who are scrambling for a starter.

Manager Terry Francona said the team was not ready to place Wells on the 15-day disabled list, and Wells, who elected not to speak to reporters yesterday, has said he doesn't believe he'd need that much down time.

``What we were trying to do was try to let him throw off of flat ground," Francona said. ``If that went well, we would progress it maybe to the mound. He was sore. We appreciated him trying to do it even though it was a long shot. We've shut it down rather than aggravate it. We'll make a decision on a Wednesday pitcher whenever it's appropriate."

Wells got off about 15-20 pitches ``but it was obvious he wasn't going to be able to do it," Francona said. ``That's what we were trying to determine today and I think we did that. Once we determined that, we just shut him down.

``Going out there, I think he was thinking, `I'm gonna punk my way into pitching.' On the way back, he realized he wasn't pitching, and then he settled in that, `Man, this hurts.'

``But he's still way ahead of where I thought he was going to be. When it happened, I thought he was in trouble."

The Sox have a few options for tomorrow. They could go with a ``starter by committee" set-up, leading with David Riske or Manny Delcarmen, followed by Rudy Seanez and Julian Tavarez. Keith Foulke and Jonathan Papelbon could be saved for the end of the game.

The Sox could look to Pawtucket for a reinforcement. In most cases, a player who was demoted can't be brought back for 10 days. Abe Alvarez's 10th day would be tomorrow. If the Sox put Wells on the DL, the 10-day wait is waived.

David Pauley's name also was floating around the press box last night, but Francona offered no indication one way or the other when asked if the Portland righthander is a possibility.

The Sox have been scouting Minnesota righthander Kyle Lohse in Rochester, Minn., and the Twins would move him for the right package of players.

Francona was also kidded that perhaps the choice would be Roger Clemens, but he laughed that off.

Manny Ramírez returned after missing two games because of back and knee ailments, and was in his normal cleanup spot, with Kevin Youkilis at the top of the order and Coco Crisp dropped to eighth.

Francona said he would keep a close watch on Ramírez to make sure he didn't aggravate anything.

``We're not deep in outfielders right now, but we don't want to hurt him," said the manager. ``If he's not doing well, we'll keep an eye on that. We played Youkilis out there. [Alex] Cora can go out there. He's taken balls out there."

Francona said he'd use Crisp down in the order for a few games to get him acclimated to playing full-time again. With Youkilis an on-base machine, there's no need to hurry Crisp.

``It was discussed before he went to Pawtucket," said Francona. ``I was going to do it [Sunday] but things got a little haywire. I just want him to get some at-bats under his belt, whether it's 8, 10, or 12. If he's hitting leadoff, he's going to rack up an awful lot of at-bats in a hurry. I'd just feel more comfortable letting him see some pitches.

``Once he hits leadoff, he'll hit leadoff the rest of the year. Hopefully it's on this trip. I fully intend for it to be quick."

Ramírez's sixth-inning homer was the 447th of his career and his 211th as a member of the Sox. That moved him past Rico Petrocelli into eight place on Boston's all-time list. Jimmie Foxx is next at 222 . . . The Sox are 3-6 vs. Toronto, 0-6 in games started by any Blue Jay other than Josh Towers. They're 3-0 vs. Towers, who did pitch last night -- for Syracuse. He gave up 11 hits and 6 runs in seven innings to Pittsburgh's top affiliate. The Sox are 10-17 vs. Toronto since the beginning of last season . . . The Jays are 28-22, six games over .500. The last time they were more than six over was Sept. 28, 2003 . . . David Ortiz was hit on the knee with a pitch but said he's fine . . . Mark Loretta singled twice, extending his major league-best hitting streak to 14 games. He's batting .424 (25 for 59) in those 14 games, improving his season average to .317. Hard to believe he was batting .207 through May 5. He now has 21 multi-hit games . . . Of Toronto's 50 games, 27 have come against 2005 playoff teams (Angels, White Sox, Red Sox, Yankees). The Blue Jays are 16-11 in those games . . . Josh Beckett, who opposes Gustavo Chacin tonight, ranks second in the American League in opponents' batting average (.212).

Tests on Wily Mo Peña's left wrist are scheduled for today in Boston . . . The Blue Jays purchased the contract of infielder Edgardo Alfonzo before the game, and he started at second base. Shortstop John McDonald was placed on the 15-day disabled list. The Jays also transferred righthander A.J. Burnett (right elbow injury) from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list, a procedural move since Burnett wasn't going to be ready until the end of June anyway.

Chris Snow of the Globe staff contributed to this report.