Jacoby Ellsbury
Boston Red Sox's Jacoby Ellsbury watches his ground-rule double in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Boston, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
(Associated Press)
DENVER — What convenience for Jacoby Ellsbury.
When the Red Sox shut down Ellsbury with a compression fracture in the navicular bone of his right foot, they sent the center field to Dr. Thomas Clanton at the Steadman Clinic. That's in Vail, Colo., maybe an hour and a half away from Coors Field.
Clanton saw Ellsbury on Tuesday and gave the A-OK, and here's Ellsbury on Wednesday, back in the Red Sox lineup. He batted in his usual leadoff spot in center field.
“We’re all looking forward to seeing Jacoby back on the field, but probably no one more than Jacoby himself," Sox manager John Farrell said. "He’s been chomping at the bit to get back on the field and the work that he’s gone through, not only has been cleared by Dr. Clanton — who saw him while we’ve been out here in Denver — but we’re looking forward to him getting back on the field. He’ll likely get three at-bats and hopefully about five innings of work in center field. I think that would be a reasonable goal in his first game back.”
Ellsbury is wearing an insert in his shoe, and the guard he wears on top of his right foot to deflect foul balls might have been modified, Farrell said, because the previous one had a gap in it.
Ellsbury can try to steal bases right away, if Ellsbury's up to it.
“If he feels comfortable enough, yeah," Farrell said. "I think all the running drills that he’s gone through, he comes in here hopefully free of mind that, one, he can’t further the injury. He might deal with some soreness from time to time and we would expect that. Even prior to re-aggravating it, or when he had to come out of that game, he was still dealing with some soreness but managing it."
Mike Napoli getting extended break
Mike Napoli, who's been dealing with plantar fasciitis, would miss his his fourth straight game if he doesn't enter into Wednesday night's at some point. With the benefit of Thursday's off-day, Napoli could have a full six days without playing in a game.
"He's doing good," Farrell said. "He's available to pinch-hit here tonight. He'll likely be back at first base Friday when we get to Baltimore."
Napoli seems to do particularly well when he's rested.
"Yeah, we're hopeful that it has the same results the last break provided," Farrell said. "He came back and swung the bat like he did for the first five or six weeks of the season. When he's in those stretches, we're a completely different offensive team. With Jacoby at the top and Mike at the middle of it, it creates a more powerful lineup, there's no doubt."
Worth noting
• How many innings John Lackey throws Sunday in Baltimore, in the final game of the regular season, doesn't seem to have a set number attached to it.
"We have to see how things unfold," Farrell said. "We're cognizant of the number of innings he's thrown to date and that he's coming off of really no innings last year. All those will be taken into account. How much we want to get other guys work before we have that four-day break, that’s also another element. That’s the best I can tell you."
• Will Middlebrooks has gone through a rough patch, 5-for-39, although he's still hitting .294 in 37 games since being recalled for his second stint with the Sox.
"At times," Farrell said when asked if Middlebrooks was reverting to old habits. "He's chased some sliders off the plate. He might have missed some fastballs early in the count where when he was in that stretch, he was squaring some balls up. I’m not going to say it's a fundamental reason where he's breaking down mechanically. I think he's back to where, pitchers have been able to get strikes in on a fastball where he's taken, and then there's the willingness to expand on the slider away."
• Wednesday marks a week since Craig Breslow last pitched, Sept. 18.
"We've tried to do it with a few guys here," Farrell said. "Equal to the rest now is to get them a couple of appearances to kind of get back in action. He's always said the more frequent short outings are what he likes, versus longer ones with more gap in between. Given how we've leaned on him, this little break has been helpful to him."
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