DETROIT -- Second baseman Rey Sanchez
was out of the starting lineup last night, and there's a possibility he won't play in the two remaining games here because of tightness in his right hamstring.
Manager Grady Little
removed Sanchez from Monday night's game in the fifth inning because it was clear Sanchez hadn't been able to get to some ground balls he normally would reach with ease.
Sanchez initially pulled his hamstring May 26, running to first in a game at home against the New York Yankees. Sanchez sat out the first four games of this road trip, but played in the final two in Yankee Stadium and started here Monday night.
Little and Sanchez are hoping he'll be ready in a few days, putting off talk about disabling the veteran.
"He was getting to where he was real close to being right, but then he made a diving play in New York," said Little. "I could see where he was slow to the ball" Monday night.
Sanchez wants no part of the disabled list, but knows the Red Sox can't afford a gimpy second baseman in the field.
"It doesn't hurt, but it's tight, like someone's pulling on it when I have to take that first step to either side, or when I have to stop," said Sanchez, who said the only other problem he has had with his leg is when he had a partially torn hamstring three years ago while playing for Kansas City.
"I'm not being able to do the job for the pitchers. That's not me. Playing defense is my game. If I can't get to it, I can't help the pitchers.
"They've been patient with me. I can't tell them to be more patient, but we don't know how long this thing will last. I heal fast, but I'm 35, not 25. I've been around the business a long time. I know they need healthy guys around. We're trying to win," said Sanchez.
Martinez says he's OK
Pedro Martinez
said that physically, he bounced back nicely from his outing Monday night. He also reiterated that he was fine in that game, even though the radar-gun readings and the results were so-so for his second straight start.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner sporadically nudged his fastball over 90 mph Monday night. Martinez, though, said he doesn't care what the radar gun reads.
"If I can throw 90-93, that's what's normal for me and when I'm at my best," said Martinez yesterday. "When I throw in that range I have more effectiveness, better command."
Martinez said sometimes he has trouble with tightness in the back of his pitching shoulder that he has to work out at times. Physical therapist Chris Correnti
called it a "knot" that the pitcher gets.
Martinez said he didn't throw between his starts in Toronto, when he felt weakness in his arm because of the knot, and Detroit, but would throw before his next outing, slated Saturday at home against Arizona's Curt Schilling,
the majors' leader with 11 wins.
Felipe Alou,
Martinez's former manager in Montreal and now Detroit's bench coach, said after Monday's game that Martinez didn't look like himself.
"Of all the games I have seen him pitch, that was the least stuff I've ever seen him have," said Alou. "Even in warmups [for the first inning] it was different. When Pedro Martinez warms up, you can usually hear the [catcher's] mitt."
Little said he thinks Martinez is doing just fine.
"I don't know exactly what's going through his head after what he's been through," said Little, referring to Pedro's shoulder woes last year. "Each time he pitches he's getting more and more confidence he's going to be fine."
Still, over the last few seasons, it has been around this time in the season when Martinez's body has shown signs of wear and tear, so the Sox will be cautious with him.
Around the bases
Rickey Henderson
(lower back) was feeling better and could return to the lineup either tonight or tomorrow. . . . Manny Ramirez
(fractured left ring finger) will be examined tomorrow, and if he's cleared, he'll begin working out with the Sox the next day. Little said once Ramirez is able to swing a bat, he expects it will be a "good week" after that when he could be back in the lineup. Ramirez will not do a rehabilitation stint. . . . Carlos Baerga
extended his hitting streak to nine games, his longest streak since a nine-gamer April 21-30, 1996, when he was with Cleveland. He knocked in four runs last night for the first time since July 24, 1998, when he was playing for the Mets in a game at Wrigley Field . . . Third-base coach Mike Cubbage
is a distant cousin to new Red Sox pitcher Chris Haney.
. . . Johnny Damon
had gone 153 at-bats without a homer before connecting in the sixth last night. . . . Lou Merloni,
who replaced Sanchez in the lineup, went 2-for-3. It was his second multiple-hit game of the year. Merloni has hit safely in six of his last seven games, boosting his overall average to .289 (13-for-45). . . . Detroit's Ramon Santiago
led off last night's game with a homer, the second night in a row he has done so. . . . Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra
made one of his patented fielding gems going to his right and zipping a throw to first from the hole for the second out of the seventh. Garciaparra went 0-for-4, flying out each time, including a sacrifice fly. He's hitless in his last 10 at-bats since homering in Yankee Stadium. . . . Over his last three starts, John Burkett
is 2-0, but he has given up 28 hits, including five homers, and 13 earned runs in those 182/3 innings for an ERA of 6.27. . . . The MRI taken of Dustin Hermanson
(groin) is expected to be read by team physician Bill Morgan
today.
The Red Sox now have two pitchers at 7-0 -- Burkett and Martinez. The last time that happened was in 1946, when Mickey Harris and Dave "Boo" Ferriss each started 7-0. Ferriss was 10-0 at one point that year.
