The All-Star shortstop will be in the PawSox lineup tonight in Louisville.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, May 30, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- The right man was up at the plate in the right situation.

This time, though, David Ortiz, the league's RBI leader, was not able to deliver a dramatic hit and the Boston Red Sox were edged by the Seattle Mariners, 5-4, yesterday at sunny and windy Fenway Park.

Ortiz flied to center against his ex-Minnesota teammate Eddie Guardado for the final out, stranding Mark Bellhorn at first base.

The Sox, who fell into an early 5-0 hole when Tim Wakefield struggled with his mechanics in the second and third innings, battled back, but fell short and dipped to 6-2 on the homestand with two games remaining.

But there was encouraging postgame news.

Nomar Garciaparra was on his way to Louisville to join the Pawtucket Red Sox for their game tonight. And while no one is setting a timetable for his return to Boston, the fact that his sore right Achilles tendon is healthy enough to permit him to finally go out on a rehabilitation assignment means that the All-Star shortstop could be back sooner than later.

All of that, though, depends on how Garciaparra's injury responds to game activity. The plan calls for Garciaparra to play shortstop and bat leadoff tonight and tomorrow in Louisville, hopefully getting in four or five innings.

Then Garciaparra will return to Boston for two days of treatment and re-evaluation on Tuesday and Wednesday before rejoining Pawtucket in Toledo, where the hope is that he could play seven innings.

The Sox, mindful that Garciaparra hasn't played in a game since the very early stages of spring training, will not be pushing him at this point, knowing he has to get his entire body in game shape for the day-after-day nature of the business.

"We're not putting any timetable on this," said general manager Theo Epstein.

Garciaparra, a career .323 hitter and two-time American League batting champion, had another strenuous workout before yesterday's game, including another round of batting practice provided by Harvard pitchers and sprints around the bases.

About two hours before the game, Garciaparra met in manager Terry Francona's office with Epstein, rehabilitation coordinator Chris Correnti and trainer Jim Rowe.

Epstein said after the meeting that the team wanted to wait to see how Garciaparra's Achilles responded to the workout immediately afterward. And since Garciaparra reported no problems, off he went to Louisville.

"This is the next step in his rehab, getting closer to being able to play in a big-league game," said Epstein. "He hasn't had any major setbacks."

Garciaparra was not available to talk about this next step. But others with the Sox were happy with the news.

"I think he's really excited. I know we are," said Francona. "He's worked really hard. But 5, 7, 9 or 10 days, whatever he needs, he'll get."

"That's good news," said center fielder Johnny Damon. "Any time you get a superstar, an All-Star, a potential Hall-of-Famer, it's big. Knowing Nomar, he doesn't need too many at-bats."

Said Jason Veritek, Garciaparra's teammate at Georgia Tech: "He's a presence in anybody's lineup. He's such a presence it will be good to have him back. He makes our lineup stronger, no question, a nice addition, not taking anything away from what everyone else has done. But we can't expect him to put the whole weight on his shoulders. We can't just sit and wait for him to come back. We have to go out and play the way we have. But we will definitely have the door open to welcome him back."

The Sox have done pretty well in Garciaparra's absence, not to mention the absence of right fielder Trot Nixon. But yesterday the Sox just didn't manage enough clutch hits in their attempt to come from behind.

Wakefield, whose record dropped to 4-3, was not helped by the windy conditions, which aided Dan Wilson's two-run double to the triangle in Seattle's three-run second-inning. But the knuckleballer was making no excuses for giving up nine hits and five runs over the first three innings.

"I think the ball was carrying to center and right, but I didn't make enough pitches to use that as an excuse," said Wakefield. "In the second and third innings I just stunk. I was getting under the ball and leaving it up in the strike zone. They're a good hitting club and they took advantage."

Wakefield, who righted himself and lasted into the seventh inning, was able to limit the damage during a second-and-third, none-out jam in the second and in the third when the Mariners had a runner at third with one out. Seattle wound up stranding 12 runners, 8 in scoring position.

That gave the Sox a chance to come back against Freddy Garcia (3-3). Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer in a three-run fourth, and Doug Mirabelli's double drove in a run in the sixth. And if Ortiz's drive to the triangle-side corner of the Sox bullpen hadn't hopped into the seats for a ground-rule double, Boston would have had a tying run.

But it wasn't meant to be for Boston yesterday, but the Red Sox and their fans did learn that there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel in the long-running saga of Nomar Garciaparra's Achilles.