The Red Sox received good news about center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury's injured right shoulder yesterday, but his status for tonight's series opener against the New York Yankees remains uncertain.
Tests revealed no structural damage, and Ellsbury's official status is day-to-day with an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder, according to the Sox.
Ellsbury left Sunday's 6-3 loss to the Texas Rangers after he hurt his shoulder sliding awkwardly into second, then aggravated it making a diving catch in center field later in the game. Ellsbury had never experienced any injury problems with his shoulder before he slid on his right side into second.
"I guess that's a good thing," Ellsbury said Sunday. "It's nothing that reoccurred or anything like that. It's nice to have to the off-day to get it looked at, see how it feels."
If Ellsbury can't play tonight, Mark Kotsay or Rocco Baldelli will start in center. When deciding whether Kotsay or Baldelli would play right field for the resting J.D. Drew Sunday, manager Terry Francona chose Kotsay, a lefthanded batter, because a tough righthanded pitcher was throwing for Texas. Kotsay went 2 for 3 with a home run off Vicente Padilla.
Tonight would be an interesting decision. Yankees starter A.J. Burnett is righthanded, but righthanders have hit 2.76 against him this season compared with .236 for lefthanders.
While Ellsbury woke up early and ran through tests for his shoulder, designated hitter David Ortiz underwent his ballyhooed eye test. His vision checked out well, and he was given drops for dry eyes, which he said have made it difficult for him to focus on pitchers without blinking.
Mired in a season-long slump, Ortiz has showed promising signs lately. He hit his second home run of the season Saturday night, and after he grounded a single up the middle Sunday, he had a six-game hitting streak, during which he is 7 for 25 (.280). Still, Ortiz is hitting a meager .197 for the year.
"I just got to keep swinging," Ortiz said Sunday. "That's what's up."
"Maybe other teams can't do that," Francona said, "because we have guys behind them."
In late innings, Francona can choose between his righthanded reliever with a 1.30 ERA (Ramon Ramirez) and his lefthander reliever fresh off a 16 1/3-inning scoreless streak (Hideki Okajima).
The depth and versatility of the Red Sox bullpen has made it the best in the league. It owns a 2.76 ERA, the best in baseball.
"I've been really pleased with the bullpen, for a number of reasons," Francona said. "Sometimes when you get multiple guys who can do multiple things and do it really well, egos can get in the way. I have not seen that.
"I think this is a bullpen, when the phone rings, they all want to pitch. The last thing you want is to have that phone ring and have four guys scatter. They all think they can do it, and as they should. It's allowed us to pitch guys earlier in the game."
Francona does not have to rely on only one or two dependable pitchers, and Delcarmen, Okajima, and Ramirez have been effective against hitters from both sides of the plate. Okajima and Ramirez, the Red Sox appearance leaders, are tied for eighth in the American League with 26 games pitched.
"We are aware of how much guys pitch," said Francona. "One of our goals is not to have our relievers lead the league in appearances or innings or things like that. We like having our good pitchers out there, but we want them to be healthy and productive."
