Baldelli forced to take it slow

Outfielder would prefer to be part of team drills

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Most people wouldn't complain about being kept out of conditioning drills. Not that Rocco Baldelli is complaining. It's just that his inability to participate in certain parts of spring training, like yesterday's stretch, are more reminders that he's not healthy at the moment.

"I'm sure no one wants to be out there doing conditioning, but I think the tough part is I just want to not seem as if I'm on my own program," the outfielder said yesterday. "My goal is to try to do as much with the team as I can and not feel as though I'm doing my own thing."

The program will change depending on the day, and depending on how Baldelli, who suffers from channelopathy, is feeling.

"We'll stay away from anything he needs or we think he needs to stay away from," manager Terry Francona said. "We're trying to get a feel for him, and the quicker we do that, the better. The hardest thing for me so far is I can tell he's looking around. He wants to be a great teammate and we're trying to almost beat into him, 'Hey, you're here to be on the field, not to prove to us that you can do the rundowns and the first-to-thirds.' We'll sit on him pretty tight."

Baldelli said there has been ample communication with the coaching and training staffs to determine a program. He said they have blended the ideas he took from Tampa Bay with the Sox' research into a plan Baldelli thinks will help him spend as much time as possible on the field.

He's not alone. Individualized programs have been created for Mike Lowell (hip) and Mark Kotsay (back surgery), but their situations aren't the same as Baldelli's. He could be limited for the rest of his career.

"It's not fun," Baldelli said. "No one wants to be in that position, but that's just kind of how it is."

The Red Sox passed another rite of spring training as batters stepped into the box for live batting practice. Most of the relievers threw, with the coaching staff and front office staff looking on.

But there was not a lot of solid contact, and that wasn't a mistake.

"It's actually not for [the hitters]," Francona said. "It's all for the pitchers. It's kind of a necessary evil for the hitters, but we need to get the pitchers out there. I know the first day you get in there, everybody looks like they're throwing 100. A couple of them were."

J.D. Drew, who faced newcomer Ramon Ramírez, didn't take a swing. There will be plenty of time for that, he said.

"I just track," Drew said. "I really try to pick up the seam, pick up the rotation. I can go in there and take swings; it's going to look ugly. Those guys are throwing hard. Sliders are breaking nasty. Especially when they tell you a fastball is coming inside, the last thing you want to do is step into one. It's a matter of them getting work on location, but it's good to see some balls come at us off the mound, at 60 feet 6 inches."

David Ortiz didn't participate in baseball activities. Francona said Ortiz slept on his shoulder the wrong way and was told to stick with indoor activities. "I think he could have been out here [yesterday]," Francona said. "He's a designated hitter. He doesn't have a whole lot to do with our pickoffs and things like that. I don't think on Feb. 19 it's real pivotal. I thought he could get more out of staying inside." Asked if he would be out there today, Ortiz said, "Probably." . . . Even though Daisuke Matsuzaka won't be in Fort Myers until the middle or end of March, the pitcher is being tracked by the Sox staff. He just threw a simulated game, and the Sox get an update nearly every day on his progress. They also spoke with Matsuzaka a few days ago. Francona said there's communication every day from Japan about Matsuzaka . . . About 30 members of the Sox will participate today in their annual charity golf tournament, which benefits the Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida. "It's something that raises a lot of money for charity," Francona said. "Something we do with a smile." Because of the tournament, the team will have an abbreviated workout . . . When it was suggested to Francona that minor leaguer Michael Bowden, who has put on some more muscle, looked like pitcher Mike Hampton, Francona came back with, "Looks like [Brian ] Urlacher."