BOSTON — Manny Ramirez (strained left oblique) visited Terry Francona’s office early yesterday and asked where he could go to get in some at-bats before returning to big-league action.

“I tried to explain to him, well, that would be with us,” said Francona with a chuckle. “There’s no place to send him.”

That’s because the Instructional League hasn’t started yet and the Red Sox’ minor-league teams are finished with their respective seasons. Francona said he appreciated Ramirez approaching him to let him know he was getting close, but the manager still thinks he could be “two, three, four days out” from playing.

One possibility for at-bats is a simulated game, but Francona said he “wasn’t excited about” that possibility, no doubt because it would hardly approach game situations. Once Ramirez is ready to return, though, Francona said the slugging left fielder will just have to work his way back into a groove without the benefit of finding his timing in at-bats in minor-league games.

“When he’s ready to play, we’ll play him,” Francona said. “You hope a guy gets hot (when he comes back), but we’ll keep running him out there and let him get comfortable again. There’s nothing else to do.”

As he has done for several days now, Ramirez took batting practice on the field and cranked his share of homers.

Youkilis out till Toronto

Kevin Youkilis, who was hit by a pitch on the inside of his right wrist underneath the palm, still was “really sore” yesterday, Francona said. But while Youkilis was out of last night’s starting lineup, replaced at first base by Eric Hinske, Francona thought Youk could be ready to return to the lineup tonight in the opener of a three-game series in Toronto.

Dice-K may get delay

The Sox are listing Wednesday’s starter in Toronto as “TBA.” That would be Daisuke Matsuzaka’s day to start, but, Francona said, apparently looking forward to the playoffs though he has steadfastly refused to answer questions along those lines, “at some point we need to maneuver our staff as we go forward.”

The Sox may want the option of having Matsuzaka follow Josh Beckett in the playoff rotation, so they could have Beckett pitch Friday in Tampa Bay (Thursday is an off-day) and then pitch Dice-K on Saturday, which would give the Japanese right-hander some extra rest, a commodity he would seem to need given his recent struggles.

Of course, it’s just as possible the Sox would want Curt Schilling to pitch behind Beckett in the playoffs. The “TBA” will probably be either rookie Clay Buchholz or Julian Tavarez. The Sox have another option to “maneuver” the staff a week from today, when they have another scheduled off day.

No red-eye for Wake

Tim Wakefield played catch before batting practice. He then dressed and left the clubhouse to catch an early evening flight to Toronto. He was flown ahead of the team to Toronto because he’ll be starting tonight’s series opener and will be able to get his normal night-before-game rest. His teammates are looking at a 3 a.m. arrival in Toronto, if they’re lucky, after entertaining the Yankees last night at 8.

Mirabelli says he’s ready

Doug Mirabelli ran the bases and took batting practice yesterday. Mirabelli (left hamstring) is hoping to convince the Red Sox he’s ready to return to action as Wakefield’s catcher, but Francona said it wan’t a lock that he’d be behind the plate tonight. “He’s politicking for it, but I don’t know if he’s ready,” Francona said. “Obviously he’s pretty close, but I don’t know if he’s there yet.”

Around the bases

The Sox are going to try to give reliever Eric Gagne “consistent innings,” said Francona, but not necessarily in late-game pressure situations … The scoreboard on the Green Monster included the San Diego-New England football game, with “SD” and NE” listed on the board, taking up one of the American League locations.

skrasner@projo.com