A few things ...

The word on Bartolo Colon is his right oblique is still tender to touch. Terry Francona said Colon will not resume any activity until that tenderness is gone. Colon has had a couple of these oblique strains in the past. One kept him out seven days, the other 20. Colon is currently on the 7-day DL in Pawtucket. It also appears that Colon has dropped a few pounds.

Mike Timlin pitches tonight in Pawtucket. If all goes well, he'll be activated Thursday. Then comes another cut. Dave Aardsma, Bryan Corey, and Javier Lopez are all possibilities. There's also the possibility of the Fenway Flu.

Francona is trying to keep both Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp sharp. Ellsbury is in tonight. With the Tigers going lefty-right-lefty, it's prime for a platoon with Crisp seeing action against lefthanded pitchers.

With a stretch of 20 days go on, Francona said he would keep his rotation in line. He said there's always the temptation to insert Julian Tavarez to give someone a rest or push them back a day. But right now that won't happen.

Francona said Curt Schilling isn't ready to begin throwing yet. While it appears Schilling is coming along well, the trainers don't believe he's quite to that point yet.