09:39 AM EDT on Monday, August 22, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jonathan Papelbon looked good again.

The rookie right-hander, the Red Sox' sixth pick (fourth round) of the June 2003 draft, blanked the Angels on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He didn't figure in the decision in Boston's 5-1 win, nor is a lock to remain in the rotation despite three solid starts.

But Papelbon certainly has been opening eyes, and not just with his electric stuff. Yesterday, he managed to keep the speedy Angels from unleashing their running game, a key factor in keeping it a 0-0 game until Edgar Renteria 's three-run blast in the eighth.

"Very impressive for a kid making just his third major-league start, and I'm not just talking about his stuff. I didn't think today he had his best stuff," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "But we asked him to do a lot of things we ask veteran pitchers to do -- holding the ball, throwing over. His poise, and the way controlled the running game was outstanding. I'm very proud of him."

Papelbon lowered his earned-run average to 2.25 for his first 16 big-league innings.

"Each start I make I become more confident," said the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder. "I haven't come away with a win in my starts, but the team has and that's what matters."

Papelbon could be headed for the bullpen now that Curt Schilling has been added to the rotation, but with the avilability of David Wells (suspension pending Wednesday's appeal) and Tim Wakefield (badly bruised shin) in question, he could just as easily get a start either Saturday or Sunday at home against Detroit.

Bullpen stint ends

Schilling, who gave up a run in the ninth, finished his bullpen stint with a 5.18 earned-run average (14 earned runs in 24 1/3 innings).

The erstwhile ace right-hander is hoping to work his way back into that top-dog status.

"I need to pitch better than I did today. None of (his relief work) matters now. I have to get myself back to the top of the rotation where I want to be. I have to establish myself," said Schilling.

Doing the shuffle

Trot Nixon began a two-day rehab assignment in Pawtucket yesterday. He is expected to reactivated from the disabled list tomorrow when the Red Sox open a three-game series in Kansas City.

The key question will be how the Red Sox make room for him on the roster.

Boston has 12 pitchers on the roster now. The Sox have gone with 11 at times. The easiest way to accommodate Nixon's return would be to option Lenny DiNardo back to Pawtucket.

But the Red Sox may feel the need to keep 12 pitchers because there's no guarantee Schilling can pitch five or six innings in his first few outings after six weeks of limited innings out of the bullpen.

Boston does not have options on a position player currently on the roster, making a simple Nixon-for-position-player swap problematic.

More Manny moments

Before every at-bat in the four-game series with the Angels, Manny Ramirez stared in the direction of the stands to the left of home plate as he has left the on-deck circle and walked to the plate. Yesterday, he was so intent on eye contact with something -- he said he was not glaring at the media, which was seated directly in the vicinity of his stare -- that he backed into home plate umpire Tim Welke. Just Manny being Manny. Then he struck out on three pitches.

He suffered a harder bump, courtesy of the low left-field fence, in the second inning after making a nice backhand running catch of a leadoff drive hit by Casey Kotchman. Ramirez's gloved the ball and his momentum carried him into the wall. He banged his left shoulder hard.

Ramirez took a while to catch his breath and stretch his shoulder, and remained in the game.

And in the eighth inning, he launched a two-run homer to center, his 33rd blast of the year and first in eight games, boosting his major-league-leading RBI total to 111. Ramirez had had only one RBI in five previous games on the trip.

Juggling act

Second baseman Tony Graffanino made a highlight-reel catch in the ninth, though he would have preferred making the grab of the popup to shallow center a bit more routine.

Battling the sun and expecting, but not hearing, an outfielder to call him off, Graffanino got his glove on Adam Kennedy 's looper with runners at second and third and one out. The ball hit off the heel of his glove and rolled down his arm. But Graffanino quickly turned and snatched the ball out of the air before it hit the ground for a key second out in the inning.

Wounded arms

Keith Foulke will play catch Tuesday in Kansas City for the first time since taking a line drive off his arm, just above the right elbow, four pitches into his first simulated game on Friday. That has delayed Foulke's progress. After that session, the Sox will determine when he might be ready to start on the simulated-game path of rehab . . . Tim Wakefield , who took a liner off the lower part of his right shin Thursday night, played catch yesterday. His limp isn't quite as pronounced. He's slated to start Friday at home against Detroit, but that is subject to change, depending on his health.

He was a non-factor

Vladimir Guererro was issued an intentional walk in the first inning yesterday, his fifth of the series and his 10th over the last nine games. Guerrero has been feeling the absence of All-Star Garret Anderson in the lineup as protection behind him.

Anderson yesterday missed his eighth straight game and 10th in the last 12 because of tendinitis of the left knee and irritation in his lower back. Anderson is expected back in the Angels' lineup for tomorrow night's game against Baltimore.

Bengie Molina was batting behind Guerrero for four of the intentional walks in the series. The results were 50-50 -- twice Molina followed the walk with an RBI single, and twice he ended innings with a grounder. Kotchman hit an inning-ending flyout after the other intentional pass.

The Sox' plan to not be beaten by Guerrero worked well, though. Last year's American League MVP went 2 for 12 and did not have any RBI.

Merloni on road back

Ex-Soxer and Framingham, Mass., native Lou Merloni began a rehab assignment for the Angels yesterday in Mesa, Ariz., for the organization's Rookie League team. Merloni has been on the disabled list since May 2 because of right ankle surgery.

Mueller's got a hot bat

Bill Mueller has had at least one hit in each of his last 15 starts, going 22-for-57 (.386) over that stretch. In seven on those games Mueller has had two hits.

The binge has raised his average from .283 to .298. The game in which he hasn't gotten a hit was last Tuesday, when he grounded out as a pinch hitter in his only plate appearance. That grounder, though, delivered the tie-breaking run in the 10th against the Tigers.

Around the bases

Jason Varitek, who had thrown out only 8 of 60 basestealers, was two for two yesterday. He gunned down Chone Figgins, second in the league with 41 steals, trying to swipe second in the third inning. And the Sox sniffed out a hit-and-run in the fourth, with Varitek, thanks in part to a pitchout, easily throwing out Darin Erstad at second . . . First-round pick Craig Hansen worked another scoreless inning for Portland Saturday night, pitching back-to-back days for the first time in his budding professional career. Speculation persists that the right-hander may be joining the Sox soon, possibly even in Kansas City.