01:00 AM EST on Friday, March 18, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Torrential rain forced a postponement of yesterday's St. Patrick's Day game against the Florida Marlins, but with some scrambling, the teams were able to re-schedule the game for this afternoon.

Today was to be the Red Sox' only day off this spring, so the club told players their participation was on a voluntary basis.

"We met with the players," manager Terry Francona said. "The way I chose to handle it, since tomorrow is an off-day, we did not require anybody to come in tomorrow. I wasn't comfortable making guys come in on their off-day. Some guys have stuff planned -- going out of town, things like that. So it was completely on a volunteer basis."

A few players, who had scheduled events with their families out of town, will be allowed to miss the game, including catcher Doug Mirabelli, who had planned to take his family to Disney World. Adam Hyzdu also had plans and will not play.

"Pretty much everybody else is coming," said Francona. "I even told a couple of guys not to come, because I don't want them sitting around if they're not going to be used. We won't have (Edgar) Renteria and (David) Ortiz. Other than that, it's our regular ball club."

The Sox briefly gave thought to cancelling the game outright, but didn't want to lose the revenue and wanted to keep their pitchers on schedule.

"I understand it's a day off," Francona said. "But we're trying to get ready for the season. It's not really that big a deal."

Long-toss for Schilling

Curt Schilling, who testified before Congress yesterday at the steroid hearings, will long-toss for a while tomorrow after returning to Fort Myers today.

Schilling threw three innings of a simulated game Wednesday, totaling 63 pitches.

The hope is that he can pitch in a minor-league game either Sunday or Monday, when the Red Sox are on the road in Bradenton (Pittsburgh) and Vero Beach (Los Angeles Dodgers), respectively.

"I would say Sunday or Monday is probably the target date," said Francona.

Hoops over hearings

The early portions of the congressional hearings were on in the Red Sox' clubhouse late yesterday morning and early afternoon as the players got their work in. Few paid much attention to the telecasts, which, at the time, didn't feature any players testifying.

When asked which he would be watching later in the afternoon -- NCAA Tournament basketball or Schilling's testimony, Francona responded: "That may be the dumbest question you've ever asked. I can listen to Schill anytime I want go on and on about any subject."

Presumably, that meant Francona was opting for college hoops.