Crisp plan not set yet
TOKYO—Coco Crisp started in center field in place of Jacoby Ellsbury in today's 5-1 loss to Oakland, but manager Terry Francona said it had nothing to do with Ellsbury suffering whiplash after running into the wall making a catch in Tuesday’s opener. The plan, Francona said, was to mix and match as many players as he could to keep them fresh. Crisp doubled in three at-bats.
Francona said he is not ready to inform Crisp how he plans to deploy him this season, other than to all but rule out any type of strict platoon with Ellsbury.
‘‘I don’t know what the outline is and [Crisp] knows that,’’ Francona said. ‘‘I just told him to be patient during this trip because he hasn’t really had his legs under him a whole lot. But he’s shown to be pretty healthy. That’s why we’re playing him [yesterday]. I can’t promise guys stuff that I don’t know, but I know I’ll promise him that I’ll communicate with him and be honest with him.
‘‘I’m not sure that I have all the answers to this one. I’m not sure I’m supposed to. I just know I want to win every game we can and put the right lineup out there, and when we do that I owe guys conversations because that’s part of my responsibility.’’
Striking performance
Jason Varitek had a horrific two games at the plate here. Varitek, who hit into a double play and struck out three times in the opener, struck out three more times in going 0 for 4 in the second game ... Outfielder J.D. Drew remained unavailable with back spasms ... Hideki Okajima became only the second pitcher in big league history to win in his home country (excluding the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico). Okajima, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning and got credit for the decision when Manny Ramírez broke a 4-all tie in the 10th, joins Fernando Valenzuela, then pitching for the Padres, who beat the Mets in Monterrey, Mexico, Aug. 16, 1996 ... Varitek’s run of starting nine straight openers is the longest by a Sox player since outfielder Mike Greenwell started nine in a row from 1988-1996 ... Mr. Personality: Ramírez, who for much of his time in Boston has skirted doing personal appearances, yesterday did a question and answer session and signed autographs for Red Sox Destinations, the fan group that traveled here as part of a tour package offered by the team. Ramírez did the event with Alex Cora, and his participation was another example of what has been a startling transformation of Ramírez’s public persona.
Weekend plans
Francona said he expects Bartolo Colon to throw between 60 and 75 pitches when he faces the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium Friday night. In a best-case scenario, the Sox are targeting Josh Beckett to start next weekend in Toronto ... Sean Casey had his first at-bat in a Sox uniform yesterday, pinch hitting for Brandon Moss, and grounded into a double play against Alan Embree in the ninth ... David Aardsma, competing for the last spot in the Sox’ bullpen, had an impressive outing, striking out three in 1„ scoreless innings ... While many Sox fans were involuntarily blacked out from seeing the opener, someone deliberately pulled the plug on fans in Japan. Nippon TV, which is owned by the Yomiuri group, the Japanese sponsor of the two-game series, was scheduled to end its broadcast at 9:54 p.m. local time. Nippon extended it a half-hour, but at 10:24 switched to regulary scheduled programming, which in this case was a variety show, Otanono Gakuryoku Kentei, which loosely translated means, ‘‘Can you compete in life skills?’’ ... Opening Day, 1953: Ted Williams was in Japan for a week of R&R, baseball historian Bill Nowlin writes, in the midst of his combat tour in Korea. Just in time for the opener, he sent a telegram from Toyonaka addressed to Lou Boudreau. It was read to those assembled in the Red Sox clubhouse before the April 16 game. ‘‘Best of everything to you and all the boys — Ted Williams.’’ Boston won that game, 11-6. Five days later, Williams returned to ready status. He was about to fly 10 missions in a seven-day span. It was a stretch that ended with another ‘‘brush with death.’’
Daigo Fujiwara of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
