Varitek out at least a month

Except for the 2001 season, when he fractured his right elbow after landing hard on the rubber mat covering the on-deck circle and played just 51 games, Jason Varitek has carried a terrific workload behind the plate, averaging 138 games the last six seasons for the Red Sox (not including 2001).

But now Varitek, who had already appeared in 85 games (79 starts) and Monday night made his 1,000th career appearance behind the plate, is expected to be lost for at least a month because he requires arthroscopic surgery to repair partially torn meniscus cartilage in his left knee. The meniscus is a half-moon-shaped piece of cartilage that lies between the weight-bearing joint surfaces of the thighbone and shinbone.

Varitek becomes the second starting position player in two days to go on the DL. Right fielder Trot Nixon was placed on the DL Monday with a strained tendon in his right biceps, although there was a bit of encouraging news in his case yesterday. There were indications Nixon might be back in two weeks, which would beat the ``very rough estimate" of three weeks made by general manager Theo Epstein Monday.

Manager Terry Francona announced after last night's 6-3 loss to Cleveland that Varitek would undergo surgery tomorrow morning. Before the game, the Sox purchased the contract of catcher Ken Huckaby from Pawtucket, a procedure necessary to place him on the 40-man major league roster. Reliever Javier Lopez then was optioned back to Pawtucket to create a spot for Huckaby on the 25-man roster, making him active for last night.

Doug Mirabelli started in Varitek's place and is expected to do the majority of the catching, although it would surprise no one if the Sox elected to pick up another big-league catcher. One possibility is Chris Widger, the White Sox backup who was designated for assignment July 23 and released yesterday. Widger was batting just .187. He hit .241 in 2005 as a backup on the World Series champions, and the staff ERA was an impressive 3.36 when he was behind the plate.

Other possibilities could include Mike Lieberthal of the Phillies, Javy Lopez of the Orioles, Henry Blanco of the Cubs, Josh Paul of the Devil Rays, and Kelly Stinnett, recently released by the Yankees.

Huckaby, one of three catchers brought to spring training to compete to be Varitek's backup (with Josh Bard and John Flaherty), was slowed by a sore left knee and began the season with Pawtucket. Flaherty, meanwhile, retired and Bard, after committing 10 passed balls while trying to catch Tim Wakefield's knuckleball, was traded to San Diego so the Sox could reacquire Mirabelli May 1.

Huckaby, who was splitting catching duties with Corky Miller in Pawtucket, was batting just .207 in 68 games with the PawSox, with 2 home runs and 16 RBIs. Huckaby, 35, has 153 games of big-league experience; the Red Sox are his fifth team, after Arizona, Toronto (twice), Texas, and Baltimore. He is hitting .223 lifetime with 3 home runs and 30 RBIs.

Varitek came out of Monday night's game in the third inning. An inning earlier, he went into second after a hit by Coco Crisp and appeared to hit the bag awkwardly. He was limping as he came around to score on a triple by Wily Mo Peña.

Over the weekend, Varitek took a big hit from Angels catcher Jeff Napoli as he slid into the plate, but Francona said the knee has been an issue for Varitek for the last couple of weeks.

``It's been bothering him for a while," Francona said. ``We gave him a couple of days off just to manage it. I think he got slid into the other night. I don't think that helped, and then last night rounding second you could see where he really aggravated it."

Varitek, who underwent an MRI yesterday and drove himself to the ballpark around 3:30 p.m., did not make himself available to reporters. Nixon also has not appeared in the clubhouse since being placed on the DL.

``[Varitek's] certainly important," Francona said. ``That's why they put that `C' on his jersey. But the extent of it, or how it affects us, will be how we let it affect us. I think we're good enough where we'll overcome things like this."

Francona met in his office with Wakefield, whose activity has been limited to a swimming program while the stress fracture in his rib heals and who won't be with the team when it leaves for Tampa Bay this weekend, though he could join the club on the road . . . Matt Clement threw a bullpen session yesterday, and Lenny DiNardo has resumed playing catch . . . Keith Foulke still has a bad back, so there is no throwing for him, while David Wells, according to Francona, reported no aftershocks from his start Monday night . . . Manny Ramírez, who had two hits to raise his average to .317, extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest by a Sox player this season and within three games of his career-best 20-game streak in 2000. Ramírez is hitting .400 (24 for 60) during the streak . . . It's not an illusion that David Ortiz comes through in walkoff situations almost every time. According to Sox historian Allan Wood, webmaster of joyofsox.blogspot.com, Ortiz has come to the plate 19 times in walkoff situations since the end of the 2004 regular season (postseasons included) and reached base 16 times. He is 11 for 14 (.786), with 7 HRs and 20 RBIs. This season, he is 8 for 9, with 5 HRs and 15 RBIs. Amazing.

Owner John W. Henry, on the lack of moves made by the Sox before the trading deadline: ``I think our baseball operations did everything they could to help the team. What we were going to have to give up, there wasn't a deal out there that really made much sense to us. . . . I feel pretty good about the team -- I feel very good about the team; if we could just get healthy. Unfortunately, we just can't control that."

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