Back spasms bother Drew

TORONTO - J.D. Drew walked into the visitors' clubhouse yesterday, clearly in pain. He had trouble walking, trouble bending, trouble sitting. He had just come from Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was taken for an MRI after experiencing increased stiffness in his lower back when he awakened.

A preliminary report revealed Drew has a herniated disk, the L5-S1. It is the same area in which Drew tore the sheath around his spine in 2001 with the Cardinals.

Things were looking a bit better for Drew after the game, when manager Terry Francona had seen the MRI results.

"The MRI was actually very encouraging," he said. "Talked about the disk; that's been there for a long time. It's just spasming around it. The muscles are spasming, so when we calm that down [he'll be OK]. I think we thought he was calmed down to the point [yesterday] where he was going to play, then it spasmed up again. Just got to get it to calm down."

This probably is not a new injury. Although Drew may have reinjured the disk Sunday when he began experiencing back spasms after backing up Jacoby Ellsbury on a play in the outfield, it's unlikely the injury occurred then. Drew has been out twice before with back stiffness: after the Red Sox' trip to Japan and just before the All-Star break.

"This is just a thing I've been dealing with a couple times this year so far," Drew said. "Now it didn't seem to be as bad when I did it on Sunday. For whatever reason, my back's really guarding against letting that spasm out. It's kind of tough because I sit down, get relaxed, try to stand up, and I'm stiff. It's hard to get loose.

"Once I get moving in a certain direction, kind of walking, I'm OK. Get up and get upright. But if I sit down or bend over and try to move, it's locked up."

Drew is on anti-inflammatory medication for the spasms. He said the trainers would "continually try to treat it, see if we can get it calmed down, try to break the spasm, fix the pain, get ready to go."

He wasn't sure if sleeping had affected the back after it improved Thursday. He took a hot bath yesterday morning to try to loosen it, but that didn't help. He's hoping he won't have to go on the disabled list.

"I don't want to miss any more time," he said. "It could be better [today], it could be better Sunday. All along, that's kind of how it's went. When I was in Japan, I hurt for a couple days, then kind of the spasm went away and I felt better. I thought I was heading in the right direction [Thursday] because it felt better. Then today it's guarding again, really stiff. So we'll see if we can get it calmed down and kind of get back to baseball activities without having to go on the DL."

Beckett throws

Josh Beckett threw for the first time since his disastrous outing Sunday (eight runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays), after which it was revealed he was experiencing tingling and numbness in his right arm. Beckett had no complaints after throwing off flat ground to pitching coach John Farrell for approximately 10 minutes yesterday afternoon, though he declined to speak with reporters. He is scheduled to throw a side session today - his normal day to pitch - in anticipation of his start Tuesday.

Tim Wakefield (shoulder) is also scheduled to throw a side session today. Wakefield said he thought he would need just one more side session before rejoining the rotation. He would be a likely choice for Wednesday's start against the Yankees, in Clay Buchholz's spot in the rotation.

Colon was sharp

Manager Terry Francona reported that Bartolo Colon's fastball was in the 88- to 90-mile-per-hour range during his four no-hit innings Thursday with Pawtucket. "He was very efficient, obviously, throwing that fastball to lefties that comes back for a strike," Francona said. Colon will throw again Tuesday, then make another start Aug. 31. Because he threw only 40 pitches, he needs to continue to build up his arm strength. Colon will not be activated before Sept. 1 . . . Jason Bay, a native of Trail, British Columbia, played his first major league game in Canada last night . . . Reliever Chris Smith was called up from Pawtucket to fill the spot vacated when Buchholz was sent to Double A Portland. This is his fourth stint with the Red Sox this season.

Bullpen solid

Once Paul Byrd left last night's game, the bullpen pitched three scoreless innings, one each from Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon. Okajima, who seems to have turned his season around, improved his ERA over his last 17 games (and innings) to 2.12 . . . . . . Jason Varitek has 157 career home runs as a catcher and is one shy of Carlton Fisk's Red Sox record . . . Julio Lugo (quadriceps) hasn't gotten worse since his setback Wednesday, but he's not ready to resume baseball activities. "His range of motion is good," Francona said. "But you're not going to see him out there running around, catching grounders today. It's definitely a setback; how far of a setback we'll see." . . . Since returning from the disabled list (right groin strain), David Aardsma has allowed eight earned runs on nine hits and five walks in just 3 2/3 innings (19.64 ERA). Before this rough patch, Aardsma had allowed 12 earned runs in 39 1/3 innings (2.75 ERA) . . . The Sox are 3-13 on artificial turf this season.