Timlin returns; Foulke put on DL

MINNEAPOLIS -- Just as Mike Timlin and his rested shoulder rejoined the Red Sox bullpen, Keith Foulke assumed his own place on the disabled list yesterday, with an elbow issue that was labeled ``tendinitis."

Manager Terry Francona said after the game that an MRI confirmed the diagnosis. ``He won't throw until we get back [Monday]," Francona said.

Francona went into last night's game with a bullpen of Timlin, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Rudy Seanez, Julian Tavarez, David Riske, and Jermaine Van Buren (who was recalled to replace Foulke).

Papelbon and Timlin acquitted themselves well last night, combining for three innings of scoreless relief of Curt Schilling. Tavarez, however, allowed Jason Kubel's grand slam in the 12th in the Sox' 5-2 loss.

Foulke pitched a discouraging two innings Sunday, allowing four runs on seven hits. The 33 -year-old has pitched just twice in June because of back stiffness that nearly landed him on the DL. Foulke didn't pitch between May 31 and June 10, and the club, as it maneuvered through roster decisions, nearly placed Foulke on the DL on multiple occasions.

Francona said Foulke didn't make him aware of the elbow pain until after he pitched Sunday, but, the manager said, ``I have a feeling it's been developing. He didn't say anything to anybody. But my guess is it's been bothering him on and off. Again, that's just my guess.

``I don't think these type of things just crop up after an inning. I think there's times when guys think they can pitch through things or try to pitch through. But [Sunday], evidently after the second inning, it started to grab him a little bit. We checked with him after the first inning. He said he was fine. His velocity was actually pretty good."

Foulke, as valuable as he was earlier in the season, is turning -- at least statistically -- into the pitcher he was last season. He's 2-1 with a 5.63 ERA.

Who will pitch the seventh inning in his absence? ``I think it depends on how we get there," Francona said. ``I think some of it will be depending on who's hitting and matchups, things like that."

The club will be careful with Timlin in the coming week. ``If he gets up, he's going to get in a game," Francona said. ``We might pitch him if we're down a run if he hasn't pitched. We want to make sure his workload is consistent, especially this first week.

``Getting Timlin back will really help. It gives us a couple guys at the end you kind of point to. For me, that was a hard one. You look up and you look at Papelbon, you know that's where you're ending. We were getting into our bullpen a little earlier than we wanted to a lot of nights. That was a little tough."

Will Delcarmen's workload increase? ``Manny's an interesting guy for us," Francona said. ``He's young, got a great arm. We tried to somewhat pitch him in situations where we're down a couple just to take a little bit of the heat off him. The other day, he pitched so well. If he can start duplicating that and following up with back-to-back outings, that would be great for our bullpen just because of the stuff he brings."

Tim Wakefield, bothered by back spasms and stiffness, feels well enough to fill the ``TBA" spot in the rotation for tomorrow night's series finale. He will oppose Carlos Silva (2-8, 7.73 ERA). That move bumped Jon Lester to Friday night in Atlanta, opposite Tim Hudson (6-4, 3.79 ERA). ``I'm a lot better than I was Saturday," Wakefield said. ``I couldn't even stand up straight. If I stood up, my back would spasm and lock." Wakefield, despite the back pain, has pitched well. He's 1-1 with a 2.05 ERA in his last three starts. His knuckleball has worked pretty well under the bubble in Minneapolis. He's 6-2 with a 4.37 ERA at the Metrodome . . . Until last night, the Sox had played 58 consecutive games in the Eastern time zone. They hadn't played outside the East since the season-opening series at Texas April 3-5. The 58 games are the most any team in baseball has played in one time zone. After this series, the Sox begin a run of 19 more EDT games.

Kevin Millar, who was in the Twin Cities with Baltimore over the weekend, left a gift for Francona in the visiting manager's office. The gift: a bag of dog poop. ``It said, `Here's to Francona,' " the skipper recounted. ``I opened it, reached in, I didn't realize what it was. I just called him back and said, `Any chance you had of ever coming back here just went right down the toilet with that bag.' " . . . David Ortiz lands on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week in a piece authored by Tom Verducci. The headline: ``Who's Your Papi? What drives David Ortiz, the supersized Red Sox slugger, is his resentment of the ball club that did him wrong and the fighting spirit of his late mother, Angela Rosa." . . . Manny Ramírez went 0 for 5 and is now a . 338 career hitter (144 for 426) vs. the Twins. That's the second-highest average of any opposing player with at least 400 at-bats against Minnesota. The leader: Kenny Lofton, at .346 . . . Alex Gonzalez did not commit an error in his 45th consecutive game, tying him for the second-longest streak by a Sox shortstop with Vern Stephens (45 in 1950). He was tied with Rico Petrocelli (44 in 1969) and is behind only Glenn Hoffman (46 in 1982) . . . The 16 strikeouts piled up by Sox hitters were a season high . . . Schilling became the 126th pitcher all-time to eclipse 3,000 innings pitched . . . The 13 K's by Twins starter Johan Santana were the most against the Sox since Mike Mussina, then with Baltimore, struck out 15 Sept. 24, 2000 . . . In the third inning, Coco Crisp hit a foul pop to short left that hit a speaker and never came down . . . After the game, Minnesota designated Tony Batista for assignment and recalled shortstop Jason Bartlett from Rochester . . . Kubel's game-wining grand slam was the Twins' first home run out of the DH spot.

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