No speaking ill of Magadan

Manny Ramírez needed to make a heads-up play after spinning out of the way of a high and inside pitch from Daniel Cabrera. (JOE GIZA/REUTERS)

BALTIMORE -- His name is about as Anglo-sounding as one can get. He was born in Florida and went to the University of Alabama. There's no trace of an accent, and if he showed up in the House of Lords with a powdered wig on his head, no one would think him out of place.

Imagine, then, the surprise among the Red Sox' Latin-born players when they discovered batting coach Dave Magadan is one of them. Magadan's parents were born in Spain, and he is fluent in Spanish.

"I wasn't surprised, I was shocked," shortstop Julio Lugo said yesterday. "He speaks it very well. He understands it all, and he speaks well. He's one of those guys you can be speaking bad about him in Spanish, he'll wait until you're done then say, 'Listen, I can speak Spanish.'

"He's a good guy, too. He gets along with people. But [speaking Spanish] is a definite plus."

Magadan, who is a cousin (and godson) to Cubs manager Lou Piniella, said both of his parents worked full time, so he spent much of his time with English-speaking neighbors in Tampa. He said he understands "everything" in Spanish and can speak "about 90 percent" of the language.

Reliever J.C. Romero, who was born in Puerto Rico, was drafted as an outfielder and said he used to follow Magadan when Magadan played for the Mets. "I was very hyper, I always jumped around, I had too much movement in my swing, and it caught my eye, how calm he was with his swing," Romero said.

"But Spanish, no, I didn't know he spoke Spanish until I got here."

Magadan said he called Manny Ramírez over the winter. "Twice," Magadan said. "He answered the phone but didn't speak to me. I could hear him talking to his wife.

"But he's been great. Second day in camp, he was in the cage with David Ortiz. I introduced myself. He knew who I was, knew I was related to Lou. He's been great. He talked to me about his checkpoints, what to look for. He asks for opinions. He asks everybody for opinions."

Ramírez came into last night's game against the Orioles hitless in his last nine at-bats, a skein that reached 12 before he had an RBI single to center in the seventh off Orioles reliever Chad Bradford, giving the Sox a 4-1 lead in an eventual 6-1 victory. Ramírez is now hitting .200 for the season.

"Just like any other hitter, when you try to get going, you sometimes get a little impatient early in the count," Magadan said. "He's kind of going through that phase right now, swinging at pitchers' pitches too early. He'll be fine."

The Yankees' rainout last night allowed them to juggle their pitching plans for this weekend. Andy Pettitte, who was to have pitched last night against the Blue Jays, will now pitch the series opener against the Sox tomorrow night. Pettitte leapfrogs rookie Philip Hughes, who remains on track to make his big-league debut against the Jays today. Manager Joe Torre said he will choose between rookie Jeff Karstens, who gave up nine hits and seven runs in 4 1/3 innings last Saturday against the Sox, and Japanese lefthander Kei Igawa, who did not pitch last weekend. Chien-Ming Wang, who came off the DL Tuesday in Tampa, draws the assignment Sunday. The Sox are lined up with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and Julian Tavarez . . . Jon Lester was rained out of his rehab start yesterday for Pawtucket in Rochester, N.Y. He is now scheduled to pitch tomorrow night in McCoy Stadium against Buffalo. That would allow Lester to make one more rehab start before his 30-day assignment ends Wednesday . . . Francona said he thought about giving Ramírez last night off, but was talked out of it by the player . . . Alex Cora drew the start at second base over Dustin Pedroia, Francona said, because Cora was 9 for 16 against Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera coming into the game. Sure enough, Cora homered off Cabrera with one out in the third inning to put the Sox ahead, 1-0, and singled off the righthander to open the fifth.

Strained obliques can be a tricky proposition, as the Sox are learning with center fielder Coco Crisp, who was scratched from last Sunday's lineup with tightness in his oblique, came into the game late as a defensive replacement, could have played Monday, according to manager Terry Francona, but now won't play until tomorrow in New York at the earliest. Crisp worked out Tuesday and came to the park saying the muscle was still bothering him. "The muscle kind of tightened up," Francona said. "That's kind of where we are. He worked out yesterday, he feels it today, we don't want to rush him." It was premature, Francona said, to move Crisp to the disabled list. Wily Mo Peña started in center field. He is 1 for 15 with nine whiffs in his last five games . . . Closer Jonathan Papelbon, who did not pitch in the Toronto series, came into last night averaging a American League-best 15.95 strikeouts per nine innings (13 K's in 7 1/3 IP). But that's not the best in the majors. Francisco Cordero of the Brewers checked in at 16.39 (17 K's in 9 1/3 IP). Last season, Papelbon's first as the closer, he finished with 9.88 strikeouts per nine innings. Joe Nathan of the Twins led the AL at 12.51. Papelbon saved two of the three games against the Yankees, retiring Alex Rodriguez for the final out of the series with the tying run on base. "It was just one of those situations where I didn't care who was up," said Papelbon. "I was in kill mode, you know? I was in there to stick the dagger in. To me, it really didn't matter, but I knew after it was all over, and I went home, oh yeah, the fans were all excited."