Drew

BOSTON — J.D. Drew has seen the replay of his crash into the right-field wall Tuesday night several times now. He’s heard the NESN replay as well.

“You look at it and say ‘that looks painful,’ ” Drew said yesterday in the Red Sox clubhouse. “I’ve jumped into walls before but never one that short.”

Drew’s body crumpled when he chased a fly ball to the wall in front of the visitor’s bullpen. The TV replay crackles with the sound of him hitting the thinly padded wall and cutting his back in half.

“It’s a tough pad out there,” he said. “I hadn’t actually walked up and pushed the pad but I didn’t know there was a big pin of steel in there. It was like a stab in the back.”

Drew missed three games with a sore back but was penciled into the lineup for last night’s game. The contest was washed out because of rain and will be made up tonight as part of a day-night doubleheader at Fenway. Tickets for last night’s game will be honored at tonight’s game.

Diasuke Matsuzaka opposes Anthony Lerew in the day game (1:05 start), while Devern Hansack will face Hall of Famer in waiting John Smoltz in the night game (7:30).

Drew won’t play in both games. Asked how Drew was doing, manager Terry Francona said he hoped to play Drew in two of the three games with the Braves this weekend.

“It’s the left side of my lower back. My back was really tight and sore,” Drew said. “But I’m better. I can play.”

Drew is hitting just .250 and struggling badly with his power numbers (2 homers, 13 RBI) but he isn’t panicking. “There’s 120 games left. That’s a long way to push,” he said. “I just have to keep working and the big thing is to hit your pitch.”

Bucking Braves

The Braves are off to a terrific start (25-16) yet still trail the New York Mets by 1½ games in the N.L. East. The keys have been plenty of power behind Chipper Jones (11 homers), Edgar Renteria (6 HRs, .331 average) and power-hitting outfielder Jeff Francoeur (team-high 30 RBI). The Braves came to Boston after dropping three of four games against the lowly Washington Nationals and got to town in time to catch the Red Sox on Thursday night.

“They have a great lineup and they’re off to a hot start. There’s no doubt about that,” said Francoeur. “We watched them last night when we got into town and the biggest thing with them is the one-run games. Last year we were brutal in one-run games. This year, we’re a lot better and that comes down to your bullpen.”

The Braves have two productive closers in Bob Wickman (6 saves) and Rafael Soriano (5 saves) and very good starters led by the ageless Smoltz (who pitches in Game 2 tonight) and veteran Tim Hudson, who is pitching as well as anyone in baseball with a 5-1 record and 1.77 ERA.

“I’m excited for Hudson to go Sunday. He is a changed pitcher. His ball is moving all over the place. It’s unreal. Between him and Smoltz, we feel we have the best one-two punch in baseball,” Francoeur said.

Rest for Ramirez

Manny Ramirez was going to sit out last night’s game to get a deserved rest. He played in both games of Thursday’s doubleheader and in 39 of Boston’s 40 games.

“We’re trying to keep everybody strong, healthy and productive,” Francona said. “Manny wasn’t supposed to play the second game but when David was sick, Manny actually offered. He told David, ‘I’ll pick you up the second game.’ So I told him he wouldn’t play (Friday).”

David Ortiz didn’t play in the nightcap Thursday due to a bad stomach but he was penciled in to start yesterday.

Okajima a welcome surprise

Hideki Okajima has obviously been a revelation for a bullpen that’s been one of the best in baseball. While middle relievers Kyle Snyder (1.98 ERA), J.C. Romero (2.84) and Brandon Donnelly (2.31) have pitched better than advertised, the key man to push a game into the hands of closer Jonathan Papelbon (11 saves) has been Okajima.

On Thursday, the Japanese lefty worked a perfect eighth inning before letting Papelbon close out the Tigers in a 2-1 win. He threw just 13 pitches in the frame, opening him back up for duty in game two. He served as the closer and pitched a perfect ninth inning in a 4-2 win in the nightcap.

“We were going for the win in game one and used Pap and Okajima,” Francona said. “If you’re losing in Game Two, you’d go to different relievers. We were going to stay away from Pap (in Game Two) and Okie threw 13 pitches so that made him available in game two in the right situation. He hadn’t pitched four days before.”

Beckett coming along

Josh Beckett threw some pitches inside yesterday with no difficulty… Relievers Joel Pineiro (12.2), Snyder (13.2 innings) and Romero (12.2) have all seen a similar amount of work…Eric Hinske reported that his neck was sore after his all-out, leaping catch of a fly ball in the fifth inning of Thursday night’s game. He then grabbed two bats and went to hit balls in the team’s indoor cage….This was the fourth time the Sox have been postponed this season, all at Fenway Park. Francona expressed a desire to play the make up game later in the season but the Braves had a day off Monday they did not want to give up.

kmcnamar@projo.com