SEATTLE – With his young son, Jack, doing better after surgery this week and his first night of good sleep in a week, J.D. Drew might have otherwise been in the lineup last night.

Instead, Drew remained on the bench, with Wily Mo Pena getting the start against Seattle starter Horacio Ramirez.

“We’re glad to have him back,” Terry Francona said of Drew. “It’s been a long couple of days for him. But we decided to have him take batting practice and let Wily Mo have a couple of hacks at (Ramirez).”

Drew was up for most of the night Wednesday, attending to his 17-month-old son, who underwent surgery on his hips and is in a body cast. He made an appearance as a pinch-runner in Thursday’s homestand finale, but said he felt like he was “running in quicksand” because of his lack of rest.

“It’s not anything you want to go through as a parent,” said Drew of the experience. “It definitely weighs on you a little bit.”

Beckett, then Schilling

The Sox tinkered with their rotation a bit, moving Curt Schilling to Monday in Anaheim, while starting Josh Beckett tomorrow here.

Francona was somewhat vague about the rationale, but cited “the ability to be consistent with the workload that makes this better.”

Beckett will be going on his regular day tomorrow, while Schilling’s return to the mound is his first in exactly seven weeks, dating to June 18 in Atlanta.

Both pitchers will get an extra day of rest after their next turn, thanks to Thursday’s scheduled off-day between Anaheim and Baltimore.

Seattle always tough

The Sox went into last night having lost their last eight games here. Their last win was on July 21, 2006. Since May 10, 2002, the Sox are just 8-19 at Safeco Field and haven’t won a season series in Seattle since 1999.

“I would have said (in the past) that we don’t do well with spacious ballparks,” Francona said, “but that’s not true anymore (thanks to improved outfield defense). We just haven’t won a lot of games here, but that won’t have any bearing on this weekend.

“We’ve lost some close games (including two one-run losses, including one in extra innings at the end of June). They have a good bullpen and we haven’t managed a lot of leads, so we’re seeing the best of their bullpen.”

Best Tools

In the annual “Best Tools” issue by Baseball America, a number of Red Sox players are noted.

In voting conducted of A.L. managers, Jonathan Papelbon was chosen as the best reliever; Daisuke Matsuzaka’s changeup was ranked third; Josh Beckett was selected for best curveball and third in the best-pitcher category.

Among position players, Jason Varitek came in third for best defensive catcher, Mike Lowell was third for best defensive third baseman.

In the same issue, Lars Anderson is judged to be the second-best first-base prospect in the game, while Jed Lowrie is ranked eighth among shortstop, Jacoby Ellsbury is fifth among center fielders, and Clay Buchholz is second for right-handed starters.

Wake’s 22

In winning Thursday, Tim Wakefield became just the sixth pitcher since 1980 to post decisions in each of his first 22 starts in a single season.

Wakefield, 13-9, is the first to do so since Roy Oswalt in 2005. The last Sox pitcher to put together a similar streak was Dave “Boo” Ferriss, who was 18-6 in his first 24 starts in the 1945 season.

In winning his 150th game as a member of the Sox on Thursday, Wakefield also became the third active pitcher to reach that milestone with the same team. John Smoltz (203) has done so with Atlanta, while Andy Pettitte (153) has needed two separate stints with the Yankees.

Manny high on RBI

Manny Ramirez went into last night second in the majors in second-half RBI with 24. Only New York’s Bobby Abreu (25) has more … Reliever Brendan Donnelly was en route to his Arizona home and will undergo season-ending ligament-transplant surgery on his right elbow later this week.

smcadam@projo.com