Road Trip

As Coco Crisp stepped into the batter's box yesterday for his first plate appearance at Fenway Park as a Red Sox player, he was surprised to receive a standing ovation. He said he had never received one before -- anywhere.

It's kind of hard to describe, the actual feeling, other than weird. It was exciting. I was grateful for it, but kind of felt a little uncomfortable. Maybe I'm a shy guy. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to take off my helmet. First game back, you feel a little bit different. Your energy level is a little higher than usual. You've got to try to calm down and relax. It took a couple at-bats to do that ... I felt like I had three cups of coffee the first at-bat when they gave me that ovation.

Karen Guregian quotes a clubhouse source as saying David Wells believes he can make his scheduled start on Wednesday. Wells was apparently able to put all of his weight on the injured leg yesterday, walking without crutches and not much of a limp. He will have a pitching session today in Toronto.

An MRI of Mike Timlin's right shoulder showed inflammation, but no structural damage. "It's very sound - the doctors were amazed I'm a 40-year-old. I've never had a problem with my shoulder before." Timlin says the problem began in Philadelphia last weekend, but Terry Francona feels pitching in the WBC during spring training may have also been a contributing factor to Timlin's fatigue.

It turns out that Francona was willing to let Tim Wakefield finish the game yesterday, but the knuckleballer declined. "I had 108 pitches and I didn't really feel like pushing it any further." ... Gabe Kapler and lefty Mike Holtz begin rehab assignments in Fort Myers on Thursday.

***

Ray, an old friend from Vermont, arrives for a two-day visit this afternoon. We'll be at Skydome Tuesday night.