Tale of the bruise

Rain has stopped, the sun came out, the butterfly has fled the press box, but the sky remains full of clouds.

Red Sox fans and media members worry so about the health of their players, following the progress of injuries minute by minute, that it left manager Terry Francona in the strange situation of discussing the bruise on Jacoby Ellsbury's behind -- in, perhaps, more detail than he really wanted.

Ellsbury has the night off, as he did last night, because of a bruise on his tailbone, suffered when he was hit by a pitch from Chicago's Jon Danks in the sixth inning Monday night. Francona said, "I think he's doing better,'' then added that last night, Ellsbury was sitting on a homemade cushion Ellsbury had constructed to sit on, "like Larry Bird.''

"I think he's fine to play tonight,'' Francona said. ''When he got in the game [Tuesday] night [pinch hitting for Kevin Cash in the eighth], he actually ran really well [scoring from first on a Dustin Pedroia double], but it was a chore for him to get to that point, so we gave him last night and we'll give him tonight.

"I think the biggest hurdle he was looking at was sliding, trying to work himself into a position knowing he could get down, because he had a pretty good bruise there. It's nothing more than a bruise but he's got it on a part of the body that hurts. He'll be OK.''

With the acquisition of righthander Paul Byrd from Cleveland on Tuesday, the Sox scheduled Byrd to start tomorrow, Clay Buchholz's day, and moved Buchholz (2-8, 6.38 ERA, struggling big-time) to Sunday.

"This is keeping [Buchholz] at one extra day,'' Francona said. "We all felt like the side session with Clay would be, hopefully, advantageous and not get Byrd here and shove him back three days. We're trying to win as many games as we can and help a young guy through a tough time.''

Francona said Buchholz's frame of mind has improved since Chicago, when he gave up seven hits, five earned runs, and walked two against four strikeouts before getting yanked in the bottom of the fourth with no outs. The 23-year-old righthander is 0-5 with a 7.42 ERA in six starts since his recall from Pawtucket July 11.

"I think he's actually a lot better now,'' said Francona. "You watched him in Chicago
the things he said, the way he was reacting, he knows we want to win. I think he even said to me, 'I don't want to be the weak link' or something to that effect which -- I appreciate that, I understand it. He's very conscientious. Very few guys go through without any bumps in the road. Most of them do it at the minor league level. He never had anything like this happen. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to take a step forward. I think he's OK, I really do.''