BOSTON -- For the second time in the last three days, the Red Sox lost a starting position player for a month yesterday. Catcher Jason Varitek was found to have a torn meniscus in his left knee and will undergo surgery tomorrow, keeping him out until Sept. 1 or later.

Varitek came out of Monday's game after aggravating the knee while legging out a double in the fourth inning. The knee had been hampering him for some time, but grew worse Saturday when he collided with Angels catcher Jeff Napoli, who was attempting to score on a base hit to left field.

"Obviously, he means a lot to us," said Tim Wakefield. "He's our captain, the leader of our pitching staff. It's disappointing and frustrating. But we have to move on. You have to try to win with what you have. That's the hand you're dealt. You move forward, try to win with the pieces you have."

"He's certainly important," said manager Terry Francona. "That's why they put that 'C' on his jersey. But how it affects us will be how we let it affect us. I think that we're good enough where we'll overcome things like this. This will give us a chance to prove that we can overcome some adversity and be a good ball club."

"We'll miss him in the clubhouse and on the field," added outfielder Gabe Kapler. "He's our leader."

His loss came a day after outfielder Trot Nixon went down with a biceps strain Sunday night and was placed on the disabled list. Nixon is expected to be out for the remainder of August.

The Sox last night called up Ken Huckaby from Pawtucket to take Varitek's place on the roster.

"It's nice to come up here and get an opportunity to play," said Huckaby, who has had brief major league stays with Arizona, Toronto, Texas and Baltimore. "There will be a lot less guess work because a lot of the guys in the bullpen (Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen), I've already caught in Pawtucket.

But while Huckaby is sound defensively, he's not much of a threat at the plate. In 68 games at Pawtucket, he was hitting just .207 with two homers and 16 RBI.

Doug Mirabelli will serve as the Sox' No. 1 catcher in the interim, unless the Sox can find something better from outside the organization.

Philadelphia's Mike Lieberthal is one veteran who could be available, along with Baltimore's Javy Lopez. Both the Orioles and Phils are out of contention and are willing to dump salaries.

The trouble will be in getting either player -- or anyone else for that matter -- through waivers, which are now required after Monday's non-waiver trade deadline passed.

However, the relatively sizeable salaries each carries (Lieberthal makes $7.5 million in the final year of a multi-year deal while Lopez is at $8.5 million) may make it easier for them to get through, since few teams would want to risk being stuck with an unwanted contract.

Chris Widger is another possibility. Widger was released yesterday by the White Sox and could be signed for the major-league minimum.

smcadam@projo.com / (401) 277-7340