Lester likely to get stint with PawSox

TORONTO -- Jon Lester will not pass "Go" in Greenville and proceed directly to Boston to claim his place in the starting rotation. Red Sox manager Terry Francona was willing to disclose that much yesterday afternoon.

Lester will indeed come to Boston Sunday to pitch a side session, Francona said, after he makes his final appearance Friday for the Single A Greenville (S.C.) Drive. But even though he should be stretched out to at least 85 pitches by that point, the Sox intend to send the 23-year-old lefthander to Triple A Pawtucket for at least one start , tentatively scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Rochester against the Twins' Triple A affiliate, the Red Wings.

Lester was placed on the disabled list retroactive to March 28 as he recovers from chemotherapy for a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. For pitchers, rehabilitation assignments cannot last for more than 30 days, so the Sox will have to place Lester on a roster by the end of next week. Francona has not tipped the Sox' hand, but don't be surprised if Lester is assigned to the PawSox, at least for a short time.

If that is the case, he'd be on schedule to pitch in Pawtucket April 30.

Wily Mo Peña smiled when Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells said he was duly impressed by the 442-foot home run he hit off the top of the glass-enclosed restaurant in dead center field Tuesday night. "He was talking to me when I was at second base," Peña said, reenacting how Wells pointed at his right biceps. "I said, 'That's not my game.' But he told me he didn't even turn around."

Peña said he couldn't think of any ball he has hit harder. But he said it didn't bother him to be out of the lineup last night. "I got to play two games in a row," he said. "The first game, I didn't feel good at all at the plate [he went 0 for 3 with a walk]. I hadn't [started] a game all season. It was hard. But I understand."

Coco Crisp, meanwhile, downplayed his two hits Tuesday night, the first of which broke an 0-for-16 string. He came into last night's game batting .150 (6 for 40), an increase of 39 percentage points from the night before. After going 0 for 4 in last night's 4-1 win, Crisp's average is .136.

Did he feel better at the plate Tuesday? "After I got my hits, yeah," Crisp said. "I mean, I felt the same when I stepped up there yesterday as I did the day before. I feel good up there. It's a matter of hitting the pitches that I'm fouling off, that I'm swinging good at. It's just a matter of time.

"Everybody's not going to hit .400. There are some guys hitting .400 right now. They're not going to hit .400 the whole year. There's a lot of guys hitting in the .100s, they're not going to hit there. It's going to kind of balance out. Obviously, you'd like to start up near the .400s and slowly come down -- or stay up there -- instead of going uphill, but who is last can become first. That's the motto you kind of live by during these times."

The night before, Francona had been pretty definitive about remaining patient with Crisp. "He's scuffling, but if we take him out of the lineup, and he has the ability to get hot, we're not going to see it . . . If you panic as a manager, you're going to screw up. Part of your job is to be patient. What's that saying, 'If you manage like a fan, you're going to end up a fan.' "

Daisuke Matsuzaka's name was linked with Fernando Valenzuela when he became the first pitcher since Valenzuela in 1981 to strike out 10 or more batters in two of his first three starts. But for sensational starts, Valenzuela remains in a special class. His first five starts were complete games, and four were shutouts. He did not allow more than seven hits in his first nine starts, and his ERA after seven starts was 0.29 . . . So far, this has been one of Manny Ramírez's quieter visits to Toronto. On his first seven trips to Toronto as a member of the Red Sox, which took him through three seasons, Ramírez hit at least one home run in each series, including three on his first visit, when he went 10 for 18. He hit just one home run here in both 2004 and '05, but last season he had four home runs in 22 at-bats, despite not starting in the Sox' final visit to Toronto last September. Ramírez came into this series batting .295 lifetime in Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome), with 25 home runs, a number exceeded among Jays opponents only by Alex Rodriguez (30). Ramírez went 0 for 3 with a walk last night.

Doug Mirabelli's home run was his fifth in Rogers Centre, more home runs than he has hit in any park outside of Fenway. "I've always felt comfortable here," he said. "It plays fair." . . . Opposing batters had been 0 for 10 against Jonathan Papelbon this season until Aaron Hill grounded a single with one out in the ninth. The walk to Gregg Zaun was also the first base on balls issued by the Sox closer. Papelbon, who struck out the side, has now held batters to one hit in 14 trips, with nine whiffs . . . Hideki Okajima, who struck out the side Tuesday, is holding opposing batters to an .091 average, posting a 1.35 ERA in his first six appearances. "Comfortable? I am not sure," Okajima said through translator Sachi Sekiguchi. "But I am not nervous or feeling pressured now. And I've been able to perform fairly well." Brendan Donnelly said a key to Okajima's success is that opponents haven't seen his "Bugs Bunny" changeup. "I don't have much information about the batters I face, either," said Okajima. "So it goes both ways, I think." . . . Incredibly, Double A Portland was rained out of another doubleheader yesterday. Seven of the team's 10 scheduled home games and nine of 14 overall this season have been postponed because of inclement weather. The record for most postponements at Hadlock Field in one season is nine in 2005. Sox advance scout Todd Claus, who managed the Sea Dogs to the Eastern League title last season, can empathize. "Our worst stretch was about 10 days where we didn't win a game," Claus said. "We played four times between rain and snow, and it was just miserable. Guys were going stir-crazy. Everybody just wanted to play. There's a batting cage at the facility, but there's only so much hitting you can do. Enough's enough." . . . Yankees manager Joe Torre told reporters yesterday that when his team was casting about for a starter for this weekend's series against the Sox, former Sox reliever Mike Myers came to Torre and volunteered. How long did that conversation last? "About as long as it took me to walk away from him," Torre said. Myers, a lefthanded specialist, has not pitched as many as 50 innings in a season since 1998, when he was with Milwaukee. Andy Pettitte will open the series against Curt Schilling Friday; Jeff Karstens will go against Josh Beckett Saturday; and Chase Wright will face Matsuzaka Sunday.

Amalie Benjamin of the Globe staff contributed to this report.