Mills set for draft party

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The plan, at least, is that by the time the game between the Red Sox and A's starts this afternoon, Beau Mills will know his fate.

If that's the case, and just about everyone in the Red Sox dugout hopes it is, there will be quite the celebration going in the luxury suite reserved for about 20 family members in McAfee Coliseum, donated by the A's.

With baseball's amateur draft scheduled to start at 11 a.m., Pacific time, and the game scheduled to start at 12:35 p.m., Mills -- the son of Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills -- would have to go high to make it before the game. After setting an NAIA record with 38 home runs at Lewis-Clark State, and leading his team to the NAIA title, Mills should be a first- round pick.

"This is a fun day in a baseball player's life," Brad Mills said. "You remember your draft day."

The Indians and Red Sox called Beau yesterday. The junior third baseman worked out for the San Francisco Giants Tuesday and hit for the Athletics Monday. The highest he may go is to Pittsburgh, which holds the No. 4 pick.

Mills said the Pirates' choice appears to be either his son or a high school player.

Mills, who hails from Visalia, Calif., played two years at Fresno State before transferring to Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho.

"It's win-win," Sox manager Terry Francona said of his coach. "His kid's going to get drafted somewhere, play pro ball, which is his dream, and probably make a lot of money -- which really makes Millsy happy. It's a great situation. I really hope it's before the first pitch so Millsy can be up there."

Though he most likely won't be around when the Red Sox make their first selection, at No. 55, it's not as if the team didn't have its chance. Back in 2004, when Beau was coming out of high school, the Red Sox took him in the 44th round. That was the same year the team drafted Nick Francona, now pitching at Penn, and the son of the manager.

"I remember Theo [Epstein] asking me -- 'cause they did it, obviously as a favor, if Nick would have tried to sign, Theo would have fired me -- and they drafted Beau," Francona said. "I told Theo, 'This kid's good.' About a month later, he said, 'Hey!' I said, 'I told you he was good.' He said, 'You didn't put enough emphasis on good.' "

Because the Sox signed Julio Lugo from the Dodgers, they lost their first-round pick (No. 20). However, they gained two picks (Nos. 55 and 62 overall) when Alex Gonzalez and Keith Foulke were signed by the Reds and Indians, respectively.

Over the last 10 drafts, the Red Sox have used their top pick to take, from 2006 back to 1997, Jason Place, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, David Murphy, Jon Lester, Kelly Shoppach, Phil Dumatrait, Rick Asadoorian, Adam Everett, and John Curtice.

So much for the theory that hitting second brings more fastballs. It may have been true for Kevin Youkilis, but it doesn't seem to be panning out quite as well for Pedroia. Not that it has stopped him.

Though the majority of his at-bats have come in the No. 9 spot -- where he's hitting .331 (39 for 118) -- he has gone 5 for 15 as the No. 2 hitter, with two doubles and four RBIs, despite last night's 0-for-4 showing.

"Since I've been hitting second," Pedroia said with a laugh, "I've gotten more offspeed pitches than anybody in the world."

J.D. Drew didn't start for the second straight day with lefthander Joe Kennedy on the mound for Oakland, although he walked as a pinch hitter in the ninth. Kennedy began the night having held lefties to a .122 batting average this season, with righties hitting .289 against him. "It just makes sense," Francona said, adding that Drew should be in the lineup today against righthander Joe Blanton. "It's a long year. Let him get his legs under him." . . . The Red Sox grounded into seven double plays in the past two games, the most since they grounded into seven in a doubleheader Aug. 12, 1986, against Kansas City . . . David Ortiz is hitting .458 (11 for 24) over his seven-game hitting streak . . . The Red Sox have lost eight of their last nine games to the A's, starting July 26, 2006. They have won just four of their last 15 games against Oakland . . . Francona was tossed by plate umpire Dan Iassogna in the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes. His last previous ejection came Sept. 23, his only one of 2006 . . . A's outfielder Milton Bradley was scratched for the fourth straight game with a right calf strain . . . One of the matchups on the upcoming trip to Arizona figures to be a big one. Daisuke Matsuzaka lines up to face Randy Johnson in Sunday's game. Johnson, late of the Yankees, boasts a 3-2 record with a 3.78 ERA.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.