April shower of RBIs

Ortiz average slid, not his production

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - April probably can't end soon enough for David Ortiz, who sat out his second straight game yesterday with a bruised right knee, a souvenir from his head-first slide into first base Friday night.

But despite the .177 average he takes into tomorrow night's three-game set against the Blue Jays that will take the team through May 1, the month has not been a total washout for Ortiz.

Eighteen big-league players began the day yesterday with 20 or more RBIs in the season's first month. A total of 199 big-leaguers have driven in 20 or more runs in April since the start of the decade.

Ortiz, who has 20 RBIs so far, is the only player in that group to have an average below the Mendoza Line, as a .200 average is known. The next lowest batting average among that group belongs to Ken Griffey Jr., who was batting .217 for the Reds when he drove in 24 runs in April 2000.

Further research by Rays crack publicist Chris Costello shows that since at least 1956, no player hitting under .200 has driven in as many as 20 runs through April. The closest was Mickey Tettleton, who knocked in 19 for the Tigers while batting .185 in April 1993.

"That's good news," said Ortiz, adding that his knee felt much better yesterday and he expects to play tomorrow.

Ortiz has finished below the Mendoza Line in a month just three times in his career, never with the Sox. He had a September call-up with the Twins in 1999 when he went hitless in 20 at-bats, including 0 for 14 in four starts. He had back-to-back sub-.200 months after rushing back from a fractured wrist in 2001, batting .196 in August and .195 in September of that season.

His worst month for the Sox was his first, when he batted .212 with a homer and six RBIs at the start of the '03 season.

Good Manny moment

Manny Ramírez's stolen base was his first in more than three years - his last came in Toronto against the Blue Jays April 10, 2005, when Ramírez stole third.

It has been more than four years since he last stole second. That came against the Yankees at Fenway April 17, 2004, with lefthander Donovan Osborne on the mound and Jorge Posada behind the plate. On the next play, Ramírez was doubled off second on a liner caught by Osborne.

The stolen base yesterday was the 35th of Ramírez's career, his fifth with the Red Sox, and eighth this decade. He never has stolen two bases in a game; his most in a season was eight, in 1996.

"It makes me feel good," said Ramírez, who went into second base with a head-first slide after opening the fifth with a walk but advanced no further as Kevin Youkilis grounded out and Coco Crisp and Jason Varitek both whiffed. "It was like I was back in high school, running."

Assignment complete

Mike Lowell had a single and sacrifice fly in five plate appearances while serving as the designated hitter for Pawtucket in a 4-3 loss in Buffalo yesterday. That completed a three-game rehab assignment for the Sox third baseman, who has been on the disabled list since April 10 with a strained ligament in his left thumb. Lowell went 3 for 13 with a hit in each game and three RBIs . . . Clay Buchholz, a 2-1 loser Saturday night on Akinori Iwamura's two-run home run, became the first Sox pitcher in more than 20 years to throw two complete games within his first 10 appearances. The last to do so was Jeff Sellers, who did it Sept. 26, 1985, at Toronto and again June 19, 1986, at Baltimore. Sellers lasted just two more seasons, going 1-7 for the Sox in 1988, his last year in the big leagues. Buchholz's other complete game was his no-hitter Sept. 1 in his first big-league start.

Whale of a feat

Manager Terry Francona smiled when told that Youkilis said he was unaware he'd set a major league record for errorless chances by a first baseman, surpassing the record held by Stuffy McInnis, the Massachusetts native known as the "Gloucester Whaler" when he set the record over the 1921 and '22 seasons while playing for the Sox and Indians. After setting the record Saturday night, Youkilis threw the ball to Don Kalkstein, the team's sports psychology coach, at the top step of the visitors' dugout. "I saw him shaking a few hands," Francona said. "I thought he was running for mayor." Josh Beckett cited Youkilis, who has started 19 of the 20 games the Sox have played since their last day off on April 8 and went hitless in 10 at-bats this weekend, as someone who should especially benefit from today's offday. "A lot of our guys need that," Beckett said. "It's unfortunate, but we're a little banged up. Tito is usually pretty good about staying on top of giving guys a day off, but Youks has had to be in there [because of injuries to Lowell and Sean Casey]. There's nothing you can do. Tito's hands are tied. It'll be nice to get Mike back pretty soon." Beckett and Ortiz both expressed unhappiness with the schedule that called for them to play 20 straight days in the season's first month, on top of the trip to Japan. That's the maximum allowable under the CBA. "There's not enough bitching and moaning to get it changed," said Beckett, acknowledging that players have appealed to ownership to work to cut down on the number of times they play on national TV on Sunday nights, then have to travel, like they did this month, playing the Yankees at Fenway then arriving in Cleveland at 4 the next morning . . . Francona said lefthander Jon Lester will start tomorrow night against Toronto, with Daisuke Matsuzaka going Wednesday. Francona elected that order, he said, to give Matsuzaka another day to recover from flu-like symptoms. Matsuzaka threw a side session in Boston Saturday.

Double play

James Shields two-hitting the Sox was the second time it had happened to them this season. The Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang did it April 11 . . . Despite being shut down the last two days, the Sox are within reach of a club record for hits in March and April. They came into yesterday's game with 264, having pounded 10 or more hits in a game 17 times this season, most of any big-league team. The previous record of 271 was set by the 2003 team. Sox hitters began the day ranked 1, 6, and 11 in individual batting in the American League. Ramírez led the league with a .354 average, Dustin Pedroia was sixth at .327, and Youkilis was 11th at .319.

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