Ellsbury

BOSTON — Jacoby Ellsbury was back in center field and leading off for the Sox when the game against the Tampa Bay Rays finally began last night after more than a two-hour rain delay. He had missed the previous three games because of a sore groin.

Manager Terry Francona went out of his way to say he wasn’t calling out Ellsbury, but he engaged in a discussion of the difference between pain and injury in his pre-game media gathering.

“There’s a fine line,” said Francona. “You’re not always going to be 100 percent. We can’t wait for guys to be 100 percent. If we did, we couldn’t field a team. There’s a responsibility [to play]. They’re protective [of players and their aches and pains] in the minors and they’re supposed to be. We try to be [also], but every game here is a big deal.”

Francona again mentioned that Ellsbury thought he’d be ready to play after the day off on Monday, but he wasn’t, intimating that he thought the rookie should have come in Monday for treatment. Francona said the situation has given him and his staff an opportunity to talk to Ellsbury, as they do with all young players, in trying to educate them about the way things are done in the big leagues.

Francona brought up outfielder Coco Crisp, who played the last two nights despite a sore knee, as an example of doing what needs to be done even if a player isn’t 100 percent.

Then there’s J.D. Drew, another outfielder, who has been sidelined because of a sore quadriceps and has the reputation as being a player who won’t play with pain. Drew left Tuesday night’s game after one at-bat and hasn’t resurfaced, though Francona indicated he might return to the lineup tomorrow.

Weather not helping aching Crisp

Crisp, who is nursing a sore left knee and a tight right hamstring, was out of the starting lineup, leaving Brandon Moss to replace Drew in right.

Crisp said his hamstring actually loosens up and feels better as a game goes along, but that his knee gets stiffer as the innings go by, especially given the cold weather that the Sox have endured this week on this homestand. Crisp was smiling about his “extra” at-bat Thursday night. Crisp lofted what appeared to be the game-ending fly ball to shallow right field, but the pitch was waved off when second base umpire Bruce Dreckman called Toronto left-hander B.J. Ryan for a balk on that delivery to the plate.

So Crisp, spared an 0-for-4 at least momentarily, got back in the box. He made the second chance pay off, lining a single to right.

“That salvaged the night,” he said.

Colon to test arm Monday

Bartolo Colon, who has been out since early April because of a strained oblique, is scheduled to throw two innings Monday in Florida.

Then Colon will join the Red Sox in Detroit, where they’ll be playing the Tigers the first four nights of next week. If all goes well, he’ll then join Pawtucket for a rehabilitation assignment. Paperwork reasons are keeping him from joining Pawtucket sooner.

skrasner@projo.com