Obliques have been a pain

Organization hurt by muscle strains

In Tuesday night's memorable 19-17 win over the Texas Rangers, Mike Lowell's swing and grimace - and subsequent landing on the 15-day disabled list - provided an unsettling trend within the Red Sox organization: injuries to the oblique muscle. In August alone, three Sox minor league outfielders have been sidelined with strained obliques.

First came Pawtucket center fielder Jonathan Van Every, who suffered a mild strain Aug. 6. Van Every, batting .266 with 24 home runs and 63 RBIs, could return to the lineup during the series at Syracuse, which opened last night.

On Aug. 7, PawSox left fielder Chris Carter had to leave a game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a strained oblique that sent him to the DL. Carter is hitting .293 with 24 homers and a team-leading 78 RBIs.

Three days later, the Lancaster JetHawks lost Daniel Nava to an oblique strain. Nava, in his first year in affiliated minor league ball, has been a great find for Boston. Undrafted out of Santa Clara University, he played for Chico, Calif., in the Golden Baseball League last year and was named Baseball America's No. 1 independent prospect. The Sox signed the switch-hitter last October, and he has thrived for the Single A JetHawks, batting .337 with 10 home runs. Nava was placed on the DL yesterday, according to JetHawks director of broadcasting and media relations Jeff Lasky.

Mike Hazen, Boston's director of player development, says the rash of oblique injuries is not confined to the Red Sox.

"They're becoming more prevalent throughout the industry," Hazen said. He thinks part of the reason is because of better diagnosis of an injury common in a sport that involves a lot of torque. "I'm sure the mild oblique strain was played through before. Now medicine knows if you do that, you're really risking a tear, and then you're done."

The Brewers lost Russell Branyan to the disabled list Tuesday with an oblique strain. From late May to late June, the Tigers sent three prominent players to the DL with oblique injuries: Gary Sheffield, Brandon Inge, and Magglio Ordonez.

Incidentally, Van Every and Carter share more than a pain in the gut. Both got call-ups to the Red Sox earlier this year for their major league debuts. Both played one game, and both did well.

Van Every went 1 for 3 May 14 against the Orioles, singling against Daniel Cabrera.

Carter's game was the 7-1 victory over the Rays June 5 that featured a melee at the mound (three ejections, and ultimately eight suspensions) and the dugout confrontation between Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramírez.

Carter came on to pinch run for the ejected Coco Crisp following the second-inning brawl. He proceeded to go 2 for 3, and though the sample size is obviously quite limited, his .667 average leads all Boston hitters.

Carter said the circumstances surrounding his entering the game prevented any immediate attack of nerves. "I just had adrenaline going," Carter said. "We had a lot of things going on."

In time, though, the magnitude of the evening began to hit him. Carter was playing left field (with starter Jacoby Ellsbury shifting to center after the Crisp ejection), and he began to realize the importance of that piece of real estate.

"I thought, 'Oh, my God, I'm playing left field at Fenway Park. That's where Ted Williams played and Carl Yastrzemski,' " he said. "It was a great feeling, saying I got to play on that field for the Boston Red Sox. No one can ever take that away from me."

A battery switch

With six shutout innings and a victory over first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Wednesday night, Pawtucket righthander Edgar Martinez continued his odd journey up the Red Sox ladder.

The ample torso and Venezuelan heritage of Martinez made his nickname of "El Guapo Jr." a natural. That is, of course, a tribute to the popular - and portly - Rich Garces, who pitched for Boston from 1996-2002 and became something of a cult hero.

Martinez was signed by the Sox as a 16-year-old catcher, and began his minor league career in 1998. He never hit much, amassing a .223 average over parts of six seasons, almost exclusively in Single A. In 2004, the Sox concluded that he didn't have a future behind the plate, and instead sent him and his strong arm 60 feet 6 inches forward.

He moved up through the ranks as a reliever, reaching Triple A last year, where he struggled, going 2-6 with a 5.16 ERA. This year the struggles continued in the early going as he was scored upon in three of his first four outings. On April 20, he was pressed into service as an emergency starter when David Pauley was summoned to Fenway (to start for Josh Beckett, who had a stiff neck). It was Martinez's first start after 147 relief outings, and he handled it well, throwing 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball.

Though the 26-year-old Martinez returned to the bullpen for another month, he has since made a name for himself in a starting role. Since June 6, he has made 12 starts and one relief appearance. His overall record of 7-2 with a 3.79 ERA includes a 6-1 mark and a 3.03 ERA as a starter.

A hot Dog in Portland

With two hits, including a grand slam, to spark the Portland Sea Dogs to an 11-3 victory over Altoona yesterday, Lars Anderson continued his torrid hitting. A 20th-round pick in 2006, the first baseman is now hitting .333 with 5 homers and 23 RBIs in 25 games at Double A, after hitting .317 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs in 77 games for Lancaster.