Francona won't tip his hand

Terry Francona had no interest in discussing how his starters will line up for the first round of the playoffs, branding such talk premature.

"Oh, my God, you're so far ahead of me," Francona said.

The Red Sox manager said he hasn't informed the pitchers of the order in which they will start, although earlier this month, he jiggered the rotation so Daisuke Matsuzaka would follow Josh Beckett.

"We don't need to do that yet," Francona said. "It just doesn't make a lot of sense to. We've communicated on where do we stand with the guys, so they're aware of possible scenarios, things like that, but we don't even know who we're playing yet."

Does that mean matchups will dictate?

"There are a lot of things that will dictate," Francona said. "Health, when we play, who we play. It just doesn't make sense to make decisions before you're supposed to."

Francona did allow for the possibility that he could make a change this weekend, when Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and Curt Schilling are scheduled to start in that order against the Twins. "As of right now, I don't see that happening, but it could," he said. Even Francona recognized how oblique he was being, saying, "How's that for being on the middle of the fence?"

Questions regarding Clay Buchholz are met with a similar response.

"I think we'll stick with what we've been doing," Francona said. "If you see him pitch, he's in the game, and we'll talk about how well he pitched, or whatever. There are some things. I think everybody's aware of some of the structure that we're aware of and trying to adhere to, win every game and at the same time realize the future of this young man."

Francona said the Sox were aware of the potential perils they faced in 2005, when the team clinched its postseason spot on the final day of the regular season and didn't have the luxury of lining up its pitching for October.

"I think we knew if we got exposed early, we could get ourselves in a bind," Francona said. "At the time, we had Pap [Jonathan Papelbon] throwing really well, [Mike ] Timlin. But if we couldn't get there, we knew . . . we did get exposed. We knew things had to break right. I don't think you go into a series thinking, 'We can't handle this,' but we were trying to stay away from some things."

In 2005, Matt Clement drew the Game 1 start in Chicago against the White Sox and was charged with eight runs in 3 1/3 innings of a 14-2 defeat. The Red Sox were eliminated in three straight.

Manager waiting

While the Sox have not yet indicated to Francona that they plan to offer him a contract extension after he became the first manager to take them to the postseason three times, the Athletics this week gave an extension to Bob Geren. Other American League managers who have either been granted extensions or had their options picked up are Joe Maddon of the Devil Rays, Eric Wedge of the Indians, Ron Washington of the Rangers, and Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox. Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who like Francona has a contract through the 2008 season, told Detroit reporters that he expects to be offered an extension soon. "I hope, on Tuesday, they have some small thing in the paper that 'the Tigers have extended Jim Leyland's contract through 2009,' " Leyland said. "That's what I hope happens."

Work for Okajima

Even before Hideki Okajima threw a scoreless eighth inning last night, Francona reiterated his hope of seeing him pitch twice before the end of the season. "He didn't get extended, he didn't give up runs, and it didn't look like there was a ton of rust," Francona said after last night's game. Okajima said the Sox' plan of shutting him down produced the desired effect. "Compared to two weeks ago, I was able to take a good rest and feel really strong and refreshed," Okajima said through translator Jeff Yamaguchi. Okajima hadn't pitched since Sept. 14, when he was charged with four runs, including home runs by Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano of the Yankees . . . Coco Crisp missed a third straight game with what Francona said doctors believe is a viral infection. Francona said he couldn't project when Crisp will return. "It would be nice to see him get some fluids in him, maybe get rid of some of the dizziness and some of the nausea that comes with that. I think he's feeling better today but not ready to go," Francona said. Jacoby Ellsbury, who replaced Crisp, left the game after five innings with what was described as a cramp in his right calf. In his first at-bat, Ellsbury fouled off six consecutive 0-and-2 pitches, two off his foot, before striking out. He reached safely, however, when the pitch got away from catcher Matthew LeCroy, who threw wildly to first for an error. "He couldn't get it to loosen up," Francona said, "so we had to make a move.". . . First baseman Kevin Youkilis, who started Wednesday night for the first time in 11 days after being hit in the right wrist by a pitch from Chien-Ming Wang, did not start yesterday with what Francona described as fatigue in the wrist. "He's not sore, which is real good, but by about the seventh inning - third, fourth at-bat - he was getting fatigued there," Francona said. "We don't want to set him backwards, either. Since he felt like that, it was, 'OK, we won't start him tonight.' " Youkilis pinch hit in the ninth but struck out to end the game . . . David Ortiz's second-half numbers compare favorably to those of his previous four seasons with the Sox. He is batting .348 (87 for 250) with 20 home runs and 64 RBIs. He has never hit over .300 in the second half with the Sox, though his on-base percentage at the start of the night (.446) matched his OBP in the second half last season. His slugging percentage of .663 trailed only the .675 he slugged last season, and his OPS (slugging and on-base percentage) was 1.109, second only to the 1.121 he had last season . . . The legendary Frank Deford will be the featured guest at this afternoon's Great Fenway Park Writers Series. He will speak on his new novel, "The Entitled: A Tale of Modern Baseball." The luncheon begins at noon at the Absolut Club at Fenway. Admission is $50 for Red Sox Nation and BoSox Club members, $60 for all others.