Nixon, Varitek hope return leads somewhere

The Red Sox' two biggest clubhouse leaders -- Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek -- missing since July 31 and Aug. 3, respectively, returned to the clubhouse yesterday. It might be too late, but both players, who will play tonight against Chicago, are ready to resume their roles, on the field and off.

The long-term future is a little more cloudy for Nixon, who strained his right biceps. His month-long absence might have diminished some of his value in free agency this winter, though there's still an outside shot he could return to Boston.

``I would think by now baseball knows what I can do and what I can't do as a player," said Nixon. ``I don't know if missing a few weeks is going to change that. I'll be playing baseball next year. I'd love for it to be here, but I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just happy to be back here with my teammates."

And Nixon said he's not given up on this season.

``If you got guys who are going to give up on other guys in this clubhouse, that's brutal," he said. ``That's bush league. Get out of here. That irritates a lot of guys in this clubhouse. I don't think there's going to be someone like that.

``Right now we're just getting a lot of injuries. Why? I don't know. You just can't explain some of these things. But the unity is always going to be [there]. I think that's the makeup of a lot of these guys in this clubhouse. I'm not worried about that."

Varitek, the captain, left a huge void after he sustained a left knee injury. Pitchers seemed lost. The clubhouse didn't seem to have one guy to bring it all together.

Varitek downplayed that.

``I think the guys have done a great job with the pitching staff; I think that's blown quite a little out of proportion," he said. ``Through that period, we didn't execute pitches when we needed to do, but the ideas and thoughts and stuff were [OK]. I can't say [his injury was] a viable reason that things happened the way they did. A lot of things happened."

He added, ``There wasn't a whole lot that I could do. I'm not sure anything would have been different. I give a lot of credit to the guys who caught back there. They did a phenomenal job."

Of 22-year-old lefthander Jon Lester's fight against cancer and David Ortiz's heart palpitations, Varitek said, ``You know, it puts life in perspective quite a bit. I dealt with an injury that's pretty much cut and dry. It's just time. They're dealing with their lives.

``Especially now that David's under a better diagnosis, you breathe a little bit [of relief], but he still has things to get through and to make sure he's OK. Now you just want to fight for Lester. You want to fight with him. It's a tremendous thing for somebody that young to face, and hopefully being the competitive athlete that he is, hopefully it will help him."

When Nixon was asked whether it would be a morale boost for the team to have him and Varitek back, he said, ``I don't know. A lot of things have gone on here lately. It's been difficult for a lot of guys, and losing is just not fun. These guys have been playing hard. They haven't rolled over. I'm proud of them, thinking about them, praying for them.

``We're all going to work hard to do whatever we can to hopefully get in the postseason. I know a lot of people are going to laugh at that, but if you don't have that kind of goal or that kind of drive, why do you need to play in September then?"

Jonathan Papelbon was concerned that the dye injection used to perform the upcoming MRI on his injured shoulder might affect the shoulder for a while. The closer said he had such an injection when he had an elbow problem in Lowell and said, ``my arm felt groggy all year." There's a possibility the Sox could shut Papelbon down for the remainder of the season. ``I don't really know about that," he said. ``I guess we'll know more about how we approach the remainder of the season after the test." Papelbon added, ``Nothing feels torn. I've asked guys who have had tears and most of them can't raise their hands up to the heads to shampoo their hair in the shower." He added that the tightness in the shoulder hasn't subsided and that, ``I was hoping to wake up this morning and have it feel a lot better, but that didn't happen."

Matt Clement knows it's a long shot, but he still hopes he can pitch for the Red Sox this season. Clement said he would love to be able to know he's back on the right track regarding his shoulder going into the offseason. ``I think it's progressing," Clement said. ``I had two days where I made 50 throws from 75 feet and 30 throws from 60 feet, so that's encouraging. I have to see how I do and then if things go well I might be able to throw off a mound [next week]." Clement, who went on the DL June 16 with what was termed a strain, had made 30 or more starts in all seven full seasons in the majors before this season. Clement never has had to rehab an injury until now. ``Back when I played in Chicago we had a couple of guys [Mark Prior and Kerry Wood] who missed a lot of time with injuries, and I never really understood how difficult it was to rehab a shoulder injury until I went through it myself. I've actually called those guys to talk about it because it's been a very frustrating process. I'm trying to avoid surgery, but if this throwing program and rest doesn't work, who knows what might be suggested in the offseason? I know the doctors don't feel there's anything structurally wrong. Right now I'm just encouraged by what's going on and I hope it continues on this course."

There was no further news on Ortiz, but manager Terry Francona suggested it's possible the slugger could take batting practice today. Ortiz still is hooked up to a monitor. The Sox were shooting for a return to the lineup tomorrow . . . Manny Ramírez had what Francona called a ``strenuous" workout on the treadmill yesterday and might play tonight. There was no word on whether Ramirez was jogging or running hard . . . The Sox are going to take a good hard look at lefthander Craig Breslow down the stretch as lefty relievers are so hard to come by. Lefthanded batters are 1 for 6 against him, while righties are 3 for 13. Francona said he's trying to ``keep his eyes open" when it comes to guys like Breslow and Kyle Snyder, in the hopes they could fill roles next season. Snyder could be groomed for a Bronson Arroyo-like role, in which he spot starts or is used as a long reliever. The Sox were severely handcuffed not having a steady lefthander in the bullpen this season.