PAWTUCKET -- Red Sox utilityman Lou Merloni was back at McCoy Stadium yesterday, unpacking an assortment of gloves and bats from his Boston Red Sox equipment bag and stuffing them into a locker in the PawSox clubhouse.
Once again, the Framingham, Mass., native and former Providence College standout was optioned to Pawtucket -- this time to make room on Boston's roster for pitcher John Burkett.
The move has become very familiar to Merloni, but it's not one he's ever going to get used to.
"Obviously they have the option to do it, and that's what has hurt me over the years, the fact that they have this easy out," Merloni said.
Merloni needs to spend 20 days in the minor leagues to use up the last remaining option. Then, Boston no longer would be able to send him to the minors without having him clear waivers and giving another major league team the option of picking him up.
"If they were to call me up 10 days from now, then I wouldn't use my option."
Merloni has been down this road before, but it still isn't easy to accept.
"The thing that upsets you the most is how they portray you by making these moves," said Merloni. "They portray you as this guy who's a strange ball player who is too good for Triple A and not good enough to play in the big leagues everyday. That's why I keep getting sent down."
He has shown that he can play at the big-league level. In four games with the Sox this season, he was 3-for-8, including a key RBI double in a win over the New York Yankees.
"The bottom line is never once have I ever been called into their office to be sent down and told I wasn't doing the job," said Merloni. "That has never happened to me. I've never ever been told I cannot do the job in the big leagues.
"By them portraying that I'm not good enough to stay is a joke," he added. "In over 500 at-bats in four-plus years in the big leagues I have over a .280 average.
"I'm frustrated about the way the organization has portrayed my career. In a sense. they have made a mockery of my career and a joke of it. That's what I don't appreciate."
Even though Merloni is frustrated and angry, he still has the drive to prove everybody wrong.
Merloni showed that dedication, arriving in Pawtucket a day early. He was scheduled to be in today; instead, he arrived yesterday afternoon for some batting practice.
He arrived home on Saturday and sat around watching the Celtics and Bruins on television Sunday and ignored phone calls.
"I just woke up this morning like 'what am I doing?' I'm not just going to sit here all day. So I decided to come down here and get a workout in and hit and do whatever these guys are going to do today. I'm just ready to go."
Merloni will be shuffled around the infield and may even get some work in the outfield. He said he would love to play that position, and it's not a question about trying to get back to Boston as an outfielder.
"I should be up. That's not the problem," he said. "It's their decision not to keep me up. I'm not thinking about them. I'm thinking about me in the sense that it's just another position I think I can play."
Pawtucket manager Buddy Bailey looks at Merloni's presence as a positive and will get him in the lineup as soon as possible.
"The way he goes about his business and plays the game, I've always liked," said Bailey. "He's a gamer, he's a good guy."
