Left shoulder puts Ortiz on the shelf

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff  |  August 9, 2007

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Before the Red Sox lost, 10-4, to the Angels Tuesday night, David Ortiz was unusually subdued.

"I'm getting old," he said.

Asked what hurt, he said, "Everything."

Yesterday, it became clear that it's not just Ortiz's right knee that's bothering him, but also his left shoulder, the one he hurt with a headfirst slide into second base July 20 against the White Sox, which manager Terry Francona likened to an earthquake at the time.

Ortiz came out of that game and underwent an MRI, which according to the club showed a strain.

But last night, Ortiz was not in the starting lineup, and he said the shoulder is bothering him again.

"Nothing big," he said. "Just some inflammation. I think when I fly, the change in air pressure affects it."

Ortiz did not get the ball out of the infield in four at-bats Tuesday, and was hitless in eight at-bats in the first two games of this series.

Ortiz will have the benefit of the off day today, and said he hopes to be back in the lineup when the Sox open a three-game series in Baltimore tomorrow night.

"I hate going through this stuff," said Ortiz, who is batting .297 with one home run and four RBIs in seven games in August. "I just like to come to the park and say, 'Let's go.' But I'll be all right."

In Ortiz's absence, Manny Ramírez was the DH, with Kevin Youkilis batting in Ortiz's No. 3 spot. With Ramírez out of the outfield mix, Francona had J.D. Drew in center -- his first start there since 2005 with the Dodgers -- flanked by Wily Mo Peña in left and rookie Brandon Moss in right. Francona had already announced that Coco Crisp would not be in the starting lineup in hopes he would have two days off. That plan didn't work out, however, as Crisp entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh, moving Drew to right and Moss to left.

Ramírez leads the Sox in games, having missed just three of 114.

Moss, who made his big league debut after Ramírez was ejected Monday night, played an inning as a defensive replacement Tuesday. Francona, who thought the rookie clearly was nervous Monday, hoped he would be more acclimated to his surroundings last night.

Eric Hinske's wife, Kathryn, gave birth to a daughter, Ava, Tuesday night, Francona said, and mother and child are both OK. The Sox still hope Hinske will be able to rejoin them in Baltimore, but are taking Moss just in case.

Mike Lowell, asked about a published report in the Herald that his agent, Seth Levinson, has had "casual conversations" with the Red Sox regarding a possible contract extension, said, "I don't know where that's coming from." Lowell was identified in the Herald report as the source. "I know they keep an open line of communication with Theo [ Epstein] and talk to him, but it wasn't necessarily about me," he said. "I haven't talked to my agent in a couple of weeks, but I think if they had talked to Theo about a contract extension, I'd know about it." He laughed. "If they didn't tell me, I'd fire him." Then, turning serious, he added, "Not that I'd be upset about it if they did talk about [an extension]. But anything on my contract, no."

Lowell had a thoughtful perspective on Barry Bonds's record-setting home run Tuesday night in San Francisco.

"I watched it when they put it up on the Jumbotron," he said. "The thing I keep thinking about is the Duke lacrosse thing. If it hadn't turned out the way it did, maybe I'd feel differently. But the media and the whole country thought those lacrosse players were guilty as sin, and they weren't."

The Duke players were accused of raping a young woman in their fraternity house, charges that were later dropped, and the district attorney was later disbarred. "When the coach resigned," Lowell said, "I thought to myself, 'Wow, this thing is going to be something really deep,' and it didn't come close to being true. So they reinstated the eligibility of some of those players, but their whole lives were changed. And the seniors, they can never get that year back.

"That's why I think the best thing is, until we know more, until there are charges or they find pictures or something, that we recognize this as a legitimate record and hold to the belief that in this country, you're innocent until proven guilty.

"Do I believe [performance-enhancing substances] can help someone who is already in the big leagues do better? Yes, I believe that. But do I put Bonds in that category? Everybody has tried to get something on him, and yet he still hasn't been charged with anything. They indicted Michael Vick in 20 minutes because there was something there. But I'm also willing to reserve judgment in the Michael Vick thing."

Lowell said he didn't understand why commissioner Bud Selig raised the steroids controversy when Bonds tied Hank Aaron's record Saturday in San Diego. "We all know how [Selig] feels," Lowell said, "so why not just leave it at baseball? If he's wrong, then he's going to look like an [expletive]. If he's right, he can tell us all, 'I told you so.'

"But the number is unreal. I'm close to 200 home runs, and that's a number I'm not even dreaming about. People say [Bonds] was a great player already; this just takes him to another level."

Curt Schilling, who spoke out against Bonds on an HBO program hosted by Bob Costas, said he had no comment on No. 756.

Francona knew before the game that former Sox pitcher David Wells, who had a 14.04 ERA in his last four starts for San Diego, had been designated for assignment by the Padres. "I have a soft spot for him," Francona said. "I know there were times when he frustrated people in authority, but the times when he's just himself, he's really something. He doesn't always use that filter when he says stuff, and when it comes out, he doesn't mean it as impolitely as it all sounded, but he talks off the cuff. He has a big heart, a good guy." . . . Crisp's error Tuesday -- he kicked a double by Casey Kotchman in the sixth, allowing him to take an extra base -- was just his second as a member of the Sox, his first since July 21, 2006. He went 153 games and 429 chances between errors, the latter a club record . . . Kevin Youkilis came into the game having set a team record for consecutive errorless chances at first base. Youkilis started the night with 1,304, four more than Stuffy McInnis, who set the record in 1921 . . . The rust showed on Bobby Kielty's first day with Pawtucket. Kielty, who had not played since July 20 and was designated for assignment the next day by Oakland, appeared in both ends of the PawSox' 4-0, 3-2 doubleheader loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in the first game, 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in the second. Kielty on Monday signed a minor league contract with the Sox, who are considering him as an alternative to Peña as a fourth outfielder.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.