Injured Lowell hip to plan

Third baseman will rest 4-5 days

TORONTO - There's no need to pencil in Mike Lowell at third base for the next 4-5 days. In trying to get Lowell's injured right hip ready for the postseason, the Red Sox will keep him off the field.

Lowell, his agent, members of the Red Sox' medical team, and New York hip specialist Bryan Kelly spoke on a conference call yesterday to help determine what would happen going forward.

"I think the plan of attack is we'll try to let this thing cool down, let him get some medication, let him do some stuff with the trainers," said manager Terry Francona. "And then we'll try to play him enough next week where he's healthy enough to play, but also hasn't lost so much at the plate. That'll be determined some on how he feels. Maybe there's a day we could DH him. I don't know. We're right smack in the middle of a pennant race, too."

Lowell aggravated the hip when he came in quickly to field a ball Tuesday. He was still walking gingerly yesterday.

"[Kelly] reassured me that I can't hurt it worse, which is a good sign," Lowell said. "That what I felt on Tuesday was normal but not a worsening. He said it's the bone spurs pinching the part of the labrum that's not where it should be, I guess. Yeah, I'm encouraged that nothing worse can happen. We're on, I think, the right road."

Lowell was happy to have a plan in place. He will do nothing for the first couple of days, then ease back toward baseball activity. He and the doctors are hoping first for a positive reaction to a new anti-inflammatory medication. While there isn't much time before the postseason, Lowell doesn't appear worried. He's hoping to play in 2-3 games before the playoffs, reassured by the number of at-bats he's had this season, and by his quick start when he came off the disabled list after an oblique strain.

As for the offseason, Lowell said, "I wouldn't want to say for sure, but all signs were arthroscopic [surgery] is the way to heal it. When they explained to me the rehab, it wasn't as dreadful as it sounded at the beginning. But I'm not really concentrating on that right now. It's the reality. I'm not going to shy away from that. I can't go through this physically or mentally for a whole year. I think it would be foolish to think it wouldn't come back if I didn't do anything in the offseason."

While Lowell will probably have another MRI at the end of the season, he is likely looking at a rehab of 4-6 months.

"[Kelly] said within two weeks, two or three weeks, you're doing motion stuff," Lowell said. "So it's not like you're standing still. That was my fear. I thought I'd be like immobile for two or three months. He told me that was definitely not the case."

Drew deadline?

Time appears to be running out for J.D. Drew with just nine games left in the regular season. Drew acknowledged as much after last night's game, sounding extremely disappointed at the fact that his back has not improved the past month. There appear to be few solutions. "Maybe another epidural or something, try to knock out the existing lingering effects," he said. "I don't know. I know a bunch of the training staff's scratching their heads trying to figure out what's going on." Drew said he took swings in batting practice yesterday, and his back tightened up.

Standing around

David Ortiz got caught in a rare base-running blunder in the seventh inning. After Ortiz reached on a walk with one out, he ran nearly to second base on a line out to left by Kevin Youkilis. But after Travis Snider made the grab, Ortiz stopped. Youkilis then began yelling at him, windmilling his arms, but Ortiz was late getting back to the bag and was doubled off. "I [messed] up," Ortiz said. "I thought there were two outs. When I saw the outfielder try to throw the ball back into the field, I was like, 'Oh, [no].' " Francona added, "He's about ready to shoot himself." . . . Dustin Pedroia made a stellar defensive play in the seventh. Pedroia threw out Gregg Zaun while off balance. "That's about as good a play as you're going to make," Francona said. "He was way over on the other side of the field. That was a beautiful play." . . . When Manny Delcarmen picked up the win last night, it marked his first in 122 appearances. His last came Aug. 31, 2006 . . . Mark Kotsay snapped an 0-for-16 streak with a fourth-inning single.

Colon suspended

Bartolo Colon has been suspended without pay, though not put on the restricted list. "He got home for the personal stuff and decided that he just wasn't real comfortable," Francona said. "He's got some things going on at home and he was either going to be in the bullpen or backing up a starter here, and the combination, he wasn't real comfortable." The reason Colon was not placed on the restricted list was so he could be recalled if something changed, though Francona said the team does not expect to see him again. Colon had been late to the ballpark twice for meetings with Francona while the team was playing the Rays, then went home to the Dominican Republic Wednesday . . . General manager Theo Epstein weighed in on the team's decision to send Clay Buchholz to the Arizona Fall League for a month in which he will throw 25 innings. "Clay made a lot of progress with his mechanics and his confidence during his three-game stint at [Double A] Portland," Epstein wrote in an e-mail. "The Fall League is an opportunity for him to continue that progress."

A berth in lineup

Jason Bay rejoined the team and was back in the lineup last night against the Blue Jays, after the birth of his second daughter Tuesday in Boston . . . Julio Lugo (quadriceps) is trying to get back before the regular season is over, but that is in doubt . . . Jacoby Ellsbury's bunt single in the fifth inning gave him a 10-game hitting streak . . . . . . The Sox signed a two-year player development contract with the Salem (Va.) Avalanche of the Carolina League to be their advanced Single A affiliate, replacing the Lancaster JetHawks of the California League.