Getting it right in left?

Fenway Park's legendary left field is a lot less spacious than most. Down the line, it's just 310 feet to the 37-foot-high Green Monster, meaning outfielders don't have much area to cover.

"It's pretty easy," said Kansas City left fielder Emil Brown, "because you don't have much gap to run down, and most of the time when the ball's over your head, it's off the wall, so you can get it and throw it in."

Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramírez plays particularly shallow, allowing a few balls over his head recently that haven't hit the wall -- and turned into doubles. The positioning debate hasn't made left field look easy.

Tuesday night, the Royals' Billy Butler hit a fly to left-center in the fourth inning that landed on the warning track -- a ball that could have been an out had Ramírez been playing farther back.

In the seventh, Reggie Sanders hit a liner down the line that could have been a single had Ramírez been playing deep enough to cut it off. Instead, the ball got past him and became a double.

Tim Wakefield, who got the loss in the 9-3 decision, was asked after the game if it was frustrating that Butler's double wasn't an out.

"Yes and no," he responded. "I mean, Manny's been playing shallow all year, so I can't really say whether or not the ball's being caught, even if he's playing back. It's just one of those things."

Preventable doubles have been common during this homestand, as Toronto's Frank Thomas and Vernon Wells hit a couple over Ramírez Saturday, and Jason Phillips lofted a high fly Sunday that Ramirez had trouble playing in the wind while backtracking. Phillips's ball landed on the warning track for a double.

But Sox manager Terry Francona said he doesn't plan to ask Ramírez to play farther back.

"Regardless of what the numbers show, if you try to force somebody into playing where they are not comfortable, they are not going to make plays," Francona said Tuesday night.

"You can look at depths all you want, and we spend a lot of time -- not just [on left field], every position. But if a guy is not in his comfort zone, he's not going to make plays. You can push somebody back all you want, but if their first thought is in, it's not going to work."

Granted, there are advantages to Ramírez playing shallow. It enables him to turn what would be singles into outs, like the ball off the bat of Toronto's Reed Johnson to lead off Sunday's game, on which Ramírez made an athletic, backhanded catch.

Ramirez also is an expert on how the ball caroms off the wall, and leads the team with seven outfield assists.

"Manny takes away all those cheap base hits and all those hard-hit balls that would be base hits anywhere else," Brown said. "He gets the ball in quick without much effort and throws out guys at second base because he plays the Monster so well."

But Brown still prefers to play deeper than his counterpart.

"Sometimes by playing so shallow, you are putting yourself in a position where you have to run a long way. You automatically think a ball is going to be off the wall," Brown said. "So, I don't like playing too shallow here because there are some balls that don't always make it 10-15 feet up on the wall. Like we hit a couple balls [Tuesday] that hit right at the base of the wall or knee-length on the wall or things like that, and I'd like to be able to catch those balls."

Last night, Ramírez trotted out for the first inning and came to a stop much deeper than normal. A few minutes later, the game's first batter, David DeJesus, lined a ball to the warning track. Tuesday, it likely would have been a double. Last night, Ramírez caught the ball on the run two steps from the wall, then pointed back to the infield, as if to say he knew it was coming all along.

Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report; Daniel Malloy can be reached at dmalloy@globe.com.