drew

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The good news Wednesday night was that Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew finally were back in the Red Sox’ lineup for Game One of the American League Division Series.

The bad news was that they both went 0-for-4.

That’s hardly surprising, given how few meaningful at-bats the two veterans have had recently.

Going into the ALDS opener, Drew had been to the plate only five times since Aug. 17, when back problems forced him out of action. Lowell, in pain because of a torn labrum in his hip, had just one at-bat since Sept. 16, after having already been out of the lineup from Aug. 13 through Sept. 4.

No matter how much batting practice a returning player takes, it’s not easy to adjust to live pitching in a real game — especially a postseason game.

So it was a calculated risk for Boston manager Terry Francona to bat Drew fifth and Lowell seventh against Angels ace John Lackey.

“Any move in baseball can be second-guessed,” he said yesterday. “That’s the beauty of the game.

“Mike is a good player, and J.D. is a good player, and in a perfect world they would have at-bats, and they would be injury-free. It’s not a perfect world, and we may have to make changes as we go along.”

One of those changes could be resting Lowell tonight, although that’s a move Francona would prefer not to make because it would hurt the Sox defensively, with Kevin Youkilis having to move to third while lefty-swinging Sean Casey would probably take over at first.

“I spent a lot of time talking to Mike this morning,” Francona said. “It’s not a nagging hamstring he’s dealing with, so I don’t know what we’re going to do (in Game Two) because, you know, it’s hard. It’s a very difficult decision for me, because you’ve got a guy who’s the ultimate gamer — a guy who’ll go out there every day.

“We’re coming back to Boston in two days, going back to Fenway and facing a lefty [Joe Saunders], and it’s important to have his bat in the lineup. So, again, there are decisions we need to still make, and I haven’t actually come to a conclusion yet.”

For anyone who concludes that it might not have been the best idea to play both Lowell and Drew in Game One, Francona makes a pertinent point: “We won the game.”

And Boston’s chances of continuing to win increase as Drew and Lowell continue to get plate appearances.

Francona knows what it’s like to play hurt. His own major-league career was curtailed by knee problems.

“As a player,” he said, “I didn’t really care what happened to my body 20 years later. When they allowed me to play, I really wanted to play. Now, when I have a tough time getting off the bench, I’m not sure how smart that was. But that’s how I felt.

“Mikey Lowell, what he’s going through right now, he’s going to pay for this later. He knows that. He’s beating his body up. As a manager, or a teammate, I don’t know how you can’t respect that to the nth degree. He’s the ultimate teammate.”

Lowell also was the MVP of the 2007 World Series, batting .400 (6-for-15), with three doubles, a homer and four RBI, as the Red Sox swept the Rockies.

So it’s easy to understand why Francona wants to keep Lowell in the lineup in hopes of getting his groove back.

The same is true for Drew, who had 14 hits in his final 36 postseason at-bats last fall, including a grand slam against the Indians in Game Six of the ALCS at Fenway.

“He doesn’t have a ton of at-bats,” Francona said, “but there is that presence that’s important, too. If it’s on the other side, and we’re pitching to him, I don’t know that you could just sit there and say: ‘Hey, this guy hasn’t played.’

“He still has the ability to hit the ball out of the park, and do some things, and you don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

jdonalds@projo.com