Finger surgery ends Crisp's season

TORONTO -- Coco Crisp began his first season with the Red Sox with surgery on his left index finger, and that's how he'll end it, too.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona yesterday confirmed what he'd only hinted at the night before, that Crisp will miss the rest of the season after a fresh break was detected in the finger that had been surgically repaired in April. A statement from medical director Thomas Gill last night offered few details, other than to say the surgery was not expected to alter Crisp's offseason training routine and he should be ready for the start of spring training. A club spokesman said the fracture was in the same area as the original injury, which suggests Crisp may have resumed activity before the finger was fully healed.

Crisp played the first two games of the recently completed homestand against the Twins, going hitless in seven at-bats. He finishes the season with a .264 average and a .317 OBP in 105 games, with 58 runs, 8 home runs, and 36 RBIs, numbers dramatically below those he posted last year in Cleveland, when he batted .300 (.345 OBP) in 145 games, with 86 runs, 16 home runs, and 69 RBIs.

As the Sox leadoff man, Crisp had a .293 on-base average, the lowest among American League leadoff men.

But Francona suggested Crisp's injury affected his performance to a much greater extent than either the player or club had previously let on.

``His finger healed up, to the point where he was fine to play," Francona said. ``Over the course of the season, just by banging it around, hitting balls off the end of the bat, things like that, he got a little separation in there that I think caused him a lot of pain, more than he ever let on."

Crisp met with a hand specialist Thursday and surgery was recommended. Francona said Crisp had to be dissuaded from attempting to finish the season.

The expectation that Matt Clement might pitch a few innings before the season ends might have expired yesterday. Clement cut short a bullpen session, and there were indications he was headed back to Boston, or points unknown, to seek a second opinion on the cause of arm trouble that has sidelined him since June 15. Clement is listed as having a shoulder strain and biceps tendinitis . . . Francona on whether Manny Ramírez, who took batting practice for the second straight day and shagged fly balls, will play again. ``We've got nine games left, he's trying. Maybe he plays, maybe he doesn't." . . . The Sox plan to make a fuss over Johnny Pesky's 87th birthday Wednesday, with what they're calling an official dedication of the right-field pole as Pesky's Pole, which is the name generations of fans have called it since former Sox pitcher and broadcaster Mel Parnell coined the term in the late '60s. Fans wishing to honor Pesky are encouraged to make donations to the Jimmy Fund; those donating $87 or more will receive an acknowledgment from Pesky. Former teammate Bobby Doerr, the Hall of Fame second baseman, and third baseman Frank Malzone, who played when Pesky managed the club, are expected to attend. Pesky is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch . . . Devern Hansack, who pitched the clinching game in Portland's run to the Eastern League title, makes his big-league debut for the Sox in today's 4 p.m. start. Hansack, 28, is a native of Nicaragua and joins Vicente Padilla of the Rangers as the only active Nicaraguans in the big leagues. Hansack was released by the Astros in 2003, spent a couple of years barnstorming around Nicaragua, and was spotted in a tournament in Holland by Craig Shipley, who oversees the team's international scouting operations.