Varitek takes a pass on future considerations

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - When Jason Varitek was asked about his future, with or without the Red Sox, he wasn't interested in offering much perspective. Last night's Game 7 loss to the Rays was still fresh, offseason issues could be dealt with another day.

"I would really rather not right now," Varitek said after what could have been his final game with the Sox. He was asked again later, by a different reporter and he said again, "I would rather not talk about it."

His voice thickened as he answered, and as he looked down to fix the bags of ice on his knees. He turned away from the assembled group. That would be the last word from the catcher.

It had not been the best night for him, with three strikeouts, including one in the seventh with runners on first and third.

"I actually missed two pitches to hit, and he threw a good slider for me to strike out," Varitek said of the seventh inning at-bat against Matt Garza. "I took good swings at the other two, I just missed them. I had two good pitches to hit."

That is part of the problem. As good as Varitek is at calling games, he has been miserable at the plate. He had just one hit in the American League Championship Series, a home run that provided the winning margin in Game 6. His average this season was .220 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs, by far the worst offensive season of his career.

The four-year, $40 million deal he signed after the Sox won the 2004 World Series is up. Varitek will be 37 in April, ancient for a catcher. And the Sox, who have little depth in their system at catcher, will have to decide whether they can fashion a trade for a starting catcher, or whether Varitek might be useful for a short-term deal - if he and agent Scott Boras will accept that.

"I hope it's not," Jon Lester said of last night being Varitek's last game with the Sox. "He's definitely a valuable part of this team. He obviously wears that C on his chest for a reason. That's between him and the Red Sox, hopefully he can work something out. We'd love to have him back. When it comes to handling a pitching staff and a team, he's the best out there.

"He means a [heck] of a lot to this team and to this organization. He exemplifies what a Boston Red Sox player should be. He's always busting his butt. He's said it before, but he can go 0 for 2,000 and we don't care. As a team, as a pitching staff, what he does behind the plate is so much more valuable than what he does at the plate."

Scoreless wonder
Somehow it keeps working.

No matter how little Jonathan Papelbon has in his arsenal of late, he continues to get batters out. With his scoreless inning in Game 6, Papelbon ran his postseason scoreless streak to 25 innings. He's pitched 10 1/3 innings with three saves and a win in seven games during the 2008 postseason.

It's the second-longest scoreless streak to begin a postseason career - Christy Mathewson threw 28 scoreless innings, 27 in 1905 and 1 in 1911 - and it's the longest since Mariano Rivera's major league-record 33 1/3 innings from 1998 to 2000.

"He understands his responsibility pretty well," manager Terry Francona said. "I don't know that you can get to this part of the year and have guys be fresh as a daisy. It just doesn't work sometimes, especially when you're trying to climb back."

Eating it up
When Justin Masterson went to 2 and 0 to Akinori Iwamura in the eighth inning of Game 6, pitching coach John Farrell must have said some magic words during his visit. Masterson got Iwamura swinging, then got out of an inning in which he put the leadoff batter on.

"I said, 'What did you say?' " Francona said to Farrell. "He said, 'Food's getting cold.' I don't know if he told him that or not. But whatever he said to him, it was an important visit. I know a lot of times those things can be viewed as overrated, but the game's hanging right there, and he came back and made some really good pitches."

Lowell surgery on tap
Mike Lowell remains on schedule to have surgery on his hip today in New York. The surgery likely will repair his torn labrum. Lowell said there may also be something that needs to be addressed on his adductor . . . As has been their practice throughout the playoffs, the Red Sox replaced Jed Lowrie with Alex Cora at shortstop because Garza is a hard-throwing righthander. Cora also started in Game 3 when Garza pitched . . . Coco Crisp remained at the top of the Sox order, despite a disparity between his numbers against Garza and Jacoby Ellsbury's. Crisp is 1 for 12 in his career, Ellsbury 6 for 13 . . . Other than Josh Beckett, every Sox pitcher was available last night . . . Angel Hernandez was added to the umpire rotation, subbing for Derryl Cousins, who left Game 6 because of a bruised collarbone . . . The reason the Sox had Javier Lopez warming up in the bullpen in the fourth inning of Game 6 was the delay caused by Cousins's injury and exit. Because Beckett had to sit for an extended period, the Sox thought it would be safer to warm up Lopez.