A defensive reaction from first basemen

BALTIMORE - For those (including this writer) who thought Kevin Youkilis should have converted a double play that would have gotten Josh Beckett out of the first inning after just four runs Sunday, Youkilis has a message: It's not as easy as it looks.

Sure, it was a possibility. But even without the bobble, a double play can't be assumed. And more to the point, both Youkilis and Sean Casey contended yesterday that the double play started by the first baseman is among the hardest plays in the game, certainly for a righthanded thrower, as Youkilis is.

"It's footwork," Casey said. "Sometimes I think we work on it so much to try to make it look as easy as we can. It's a tough play, 'cause you've got to get the ball over, if you're too far away from the bag, you've got the pitcher covering. Or if you throw it, you've still got to get back.

"When you make it, no one says anything. But when you mess it up, people say, 'What's going on?' "

The need for a pitcher to cover the bag in some cases complicates things.

"When you have a pitcher covering a bag, it never is normal," said Youkilis. "If it's quick, they need to get over there, find the base, and find the ball. They're not used to it.

"A lot of times they might have a stutter step, and that can be the whole thing."

Pitchers don't do a lot of fielding practice outside of spring training. (Though there was an uptick after the Tigers' staff made such a mess of things during the 2006 World Series.) But even for the first baseman, there are enough things to consider to make his head spin.

"You have to know who's on first, first off," Casey said. "You have to know what situation the game is. You're trying to get two outs here, or you're trying to get an out late in the game just to get outs.

"You have to judge how hard is the ball hit. Can you get one? Sometimes you don't want to rush the throw, you want to make sure you get that one. And if you're going to go to second, make sure it's a good throw so you at least get the one. If you get two, it's a bonus. Speed of the ball, speed of the runner, it all dictates what you're doing."

Drew is a scratch

J.D. Drew thought he might be able to play last night after being taken out of Sunday's game with tightness in his lower back, but when his back tightened up overnight, he called the trainers and told them he couldn't play. Drew, who has had back trouble off and on this season, felt it while backing up Jacoby Ellsbury on Lyle Overbay's double in the third inning. "Just boom, just like that," he said. "Just one instance, one step. It almost feels like a little shock going up your back. As soon as you realize what it is, it's too late." Drew said the pain was in his lower back, toward the right side, and he planned to spend yesterday getting a massage and alternating hot and cold therapy . . . Instead of staying in Boston - where Fenway Park is closed for the next couple of days for the Neil Diamond concert - Mike Lowell will head to Miami to work through his oblique injury. He'll spend four days there, doing two-a-day workouts with a trainer, then the club will determine whether he's ready for baseball activities. If so, he will meet the team in Toronto, otherwise he will rejoin the Sox in New York.

Taking their time with Wakefield

It appears unlikely Tim Wakefield will come off the disabled list when he's eligible Sunday. Manager Terry Francona called that timetable "probably a little aggressive." The Sox want Wakefield to throw at least two side sessions, possibly three, before returning . . . Julio Lugo hit in the cage yesterday for the first time since tearing his left quadriceps. Lugo estimated that he would need a couple of more days of hitting, and that he might be able to go out on a rehab assignment in about a week. That would put his return at the beginning of September. "I don't have no pain," Lugo said. "I just feel like the muscle's stiff. It's grabbing my knee. I think that's causing a little pain in the knee, but not in the muscle."

Losers become winners

With last night's win, the Sox are 8-0 this season after being swept. Jon Lester is 3-0 with an 0.29 ERA in four starts in that situation . . . Jonathan Papelbon's save gave him 105 for his career, moving him into sole possession of second place in Sox history, passing Dick Radatz . . . Francona, on Youkilis's ninth-inning at-bat, when he moved David Ortiz to third with a grounder to second, setting Ortiz up to score when Jason Bay reached on a fielder's choice: "That was a good job of hitting. You've got a guy hitting cleanup. We don't want to take the bat out of their hands. We'd like to see them get him over and in, but that was a great piece of hitting. You could tell by his approach he was trying to get David at worst to third. Good way to play the game."

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.