Time grows short for Drew

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Time grows short for Drew
Outfielder given another epidural
By Adam Kilgore, Globe Staff | September 23, 2008

J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell did not appear in the Red Sox clubhouse yesterday, but the issue of their health and playing status still hung over the team. The Red Sox, again, had no definitive answers as to when - or, in Drew's case, if - their right fielder and third baseman will return to the lineup.

At 3 p.m. yesterday, Drew received an epidural - a shot directly into his spinal cord - for the second time, as he tries to keep the herniated disk in his lower back from flaring up. Drew has targeted a return several times over the past month, only for his back to seize and prevent him from playing.

"Nothing new structurally, nothing worse, nothing advanced," manager Terry Francona said. Team doctors "think what they'll do is have very limited activity today, because of the shot, and the hope would be he'd show up tomorrow and feel pretty good. Every time I've tried to give what I think is going to happen, it hasn't worked. So that's what's going to happen today and we'll see how he does."

With less than one week remaining in the regular season, the time for Drew to sharpen his swing is running out.

But if he cannot play before week's end, Francona said, it would not eliminate him from the playoffs.

"If you're asking if I'm writing J.D. off - nooo," Francona said. "It'd be nice to get at-bats, in a perfect world. The rest of the season could go from anywhere from about five days to a month. That's a lot of time left for things to happen, so we wouldn't want to write anything off."

Lowell's hip improved yesterday, but "not to the point where he's going to play in a game," Francona said. "I don't know if it's rapid improvement, but it's improvement. We'll just keep monitoring him and do the best we can."

Lowell can run straight ahead with little trouble, but moving side-to-side aggravates the slight tear in the labrum of his right hip.

Francona said over the weekend that he hoped Lowell would be able to return as soon as Wednesday, but that appears to no longer be a possibility.

"I think it might be a mistake," Francona said. "It might be a little too quick."

Before the injury worsened in Tampa Bay last week, Lowell could swing the bat largely without pain. Because the injury affects his fielding more, Lowell could return at first as a designated hitter.

"It would be nice to have him DH a game, because that would be nice for him hitting," Francona said. "But it depends on where we are in the standings and how things are going there, too. We'll have to play this week out and see where we stand."

Shortstop Julio Lugo saw a team doctor at roughly 5:50 p.m. yesterday, so the Red Sox did not know anything new about his strained quadriceps before the game.

Lugo, who hasn't played since before the All-Star break, reinjured his leg over the weekend.

"It's not progressing to the point right now where he's near being activated," Francona said.


Foot is ailing Crisp
Center fielder Coco Crisp did not start last night because of a minor injury to the ball of his left foot, an injury he confronted last season. Crisp has been dealing with it for just over a week. In Toronto, he wore running shoes in the outfield, then switched to spikes in the batter's box. He also experimented with different pads for his shoes and softer spikes. Crisp limped through the Red Sox clubhouse, and Francona nearly wrote his name in the lineup. "Just decided we'll wait one more day," said the manager. Crisp did pinch run after Sean Casey's single in the eighth.


Efficiency expert
If you're looking for more ammunition for the Dustin Pedroia-for-MVP argument, there's this: After he stole second without a throw Sunday in Toronto, Pedroia led the majors with a 95 percent success rate on steals, having taken 19 bases in 20 attempts. The Red Sox, from the bottom of their organization to the top, emphasize the importance of steals while minimizing failed attempts. They rank fifth in the majors with a 77.5 stolen base percentage, and nobody embodies the commitment to efficient base stealing better than Pedroia. He is not as fleet or prolific as Jacoby Ellsbury, who leads the American League with 49 stolen bases. But Pedroia's base-stealing value is nearly identical to Ellsbury's. The formula used by Baseball Prospectus to determine base-stealing value states that a bag pilfered increases a team's expected runs by .25, whereas getting caught decreases the total by .64. By that measure, Pedroia's 19 thefts and one time thrown out have accounted for 4.11 runs; Ellsbury's 49 steals and 11 times thrown out have accounted for 4.96 runs . . . Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an opposite-field single in the third inning, matching the career-long streak he compiled last September.


Thinking it through
Josh Beckett is scheduled to make his final start of the regular season Saturday. Francona was asked yesterday if he thought about skipping Beckett or pulling him early from that start. "I hope we've done a lot of thinking," Francona said. "Common sense says that if we have a chance to win the division, we're not going to skip him or pull him out in the third inning so we can lose a game. I think we'll use common sense and as we get further down the week, depending on how we play, depending on how the team ahead of us plays, we'll make the decisions we need to." . . . When Jonathan Papelbon got his 40th save Sunday, he became the first Red Sox closer to reach the plateau since Ugueth Urbina in 2002. Only Derek Lowe (42 in 2000) and Tom Gordon (46 in 1998) have saved more for the Red Sox . . . Papelbon's 112 saves over the past three seasons rank second in the majors, behind Francisco Rodriguez (146) and Trevor Hoffman (116).


Suspensions appealed
Indians catcher Victor Martinez (three games), and starting pitcher Fausto Carmona (six), and second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera (three) appealed the suspensions handed them for their roles in a brawl with the Detroit Tigers on Friday. Carmona, as of last night, was still listed as tomorrow's probable starter against the Red Sox. Gary Sheffield of the Tigers was suspended four games . . . Luis Tiant threw out the first pitch . . . Even if the Red Sox win their remaining six games, the Rays would have to go 3-4 in their final seven - against the hapless Orioles and Detroit Tigers - for Boston to claim the division crown . . . Beckett threw 105 pitches last night. He hadn't thrown so many since he fired 110 July 25 . . . Saturday's game at Fenway against the Yankees was moved from 7:05 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. to accommodate television schedules. Gates will open at 1:55. The game will be seen locally on Channel 25, not NESN.

Adam Kilgore can be reached at akilgore@globe.com

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