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After tweaking the knee on that play in Tampa, Francona kept him out of the lineup on April 26 and 27. Ortiz then returned to the lineup for the next five games but needed another day off Sunday.
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He was in the lineup for all four games here, though it is a struggle for Ortiz to prepare to play.
"I've got to go through a lot of stuff to play," he said. "Massage, the gym, the trainer ... a lot of stuff."
And that's every day.
Still, entering Thursday night's game, Ortiz was 8-for-18 (.444) with two homers and six RBI in his past four games, and a seven-game hitting streak (during which he has hit .419) had bumped his average to .233 from .172.
Francona is hoping once the weather warms, Ortiz's knee will significantly improve. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that as Ortiz's knee throbbed Thursday, the game-time temperature was a brisk 53 degrees.
"I really don't want to rest him," Francona said. "Going into interleague play, there may be an opportunity. We'll do what we need to do out of necessity.
"We like it when he's in there."
Said Ortiz: "When both of my knees are good, look out."
• Apparently, as Chien-Ming Wang and the Yankees discovered this week, there's just no stopping Cleveland left-hander Cliff Lee. At 6-0, he's off to the Indians' best start since Dennis Martinez went 9-0 to begin 1995. Fully recovered from memories of last year's wicked combination of an abdominal strain and outright wretched pitching when he returned, Lee has renewed confidence, a determination to slow things down on the mound when they begin to get crazy and, most importantly, he's a strike-throwing machine. One of the game's best stats right now: Lee has walked only two hitters in 44 2/3 innings this season. Wait, here's an even better stat: Lee has faced 101 consecutive batters without a walk -- he hasn't walked a hitter in his past 28 innings.
• More Lee: He did not come out of nowhere. This is a guy who won 14 games for Cleveland in 2004, 18 in 2005 and 14 in 2006.
• Not to diminish Lee's game against the Yankees, because he was phenomenal on Wednesday night, but if you're a left-hander facing the Yankees right now, you've got a chance to have a pretty good day. With Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada on the disabled list, the lefty-heavy Yankees (Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu) are even more hamstrung against lefties. They're only 4-5 against lefty starters this season.
• Most unsung pitcher on Detroit's staff so far: Righty Armando Galarraga, recalled from Triple-A Toledo when Dontrelle Willis hurt his knee and 2-1 with a 3.07 ERA in five starts since. The Tigers acquired Galarraga from Texas in Feburary for outfielder Michael Hernandez, who subsequently was released by the Rangers before spring training ended. Most impressive thing is, Galarraga throws strikes: He's fanned 21 and walked only nine in 29 1/3 innings. "Our reports on him were that he could maybe help us this year," Al Avila, Detroit's assistant general manager, says. "We just didn't think it would be this early."
• Galarraga was impressive from the first day of spring training for the Tigers, and his first two starts with the Mud Hens were lights out. Then Willis was hurt, and Galarraga has continued to take advantage of every opportunity.
• Of the 10 smallest crowds in Seattle Mariners' history, seven have come this season.
• Cincinnati's home attendance is down about 2,000 per game from 2007.
• How fast is Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury? He swiped second Wednesday night with Pudge Rodriguez behind the plate despite the fact that the Red Sox had Rodriguez's throws to second clocked at 1.75 seconds (from the time he catches the ball, throws and it arrives). "He really adds a speed dimension we haven't had," Boston third baseman Mike Lowell says. "He's a pure burner. I mean, we have guys who can run, but he's a burner."
• Yes, the Washington Nationals are in last place, but don't overlook shortstop Cristian Guzman because of it. The former Minnesota All-Star (2001), who seems much older than 30, finally appears back after missing the entire 2006 season with injuries. Through midweek, Guzman was hitting .309 with 13 extra-base hits (eight doubles, two triples and three homers) and 14 RBI. Since the beginning of last season, Guzman is hitting .319 with 14 doubles, eight triples, five homers and 28 RBI in 77 games with a .359 on-base percentage.
• One reason Atlanta remains right in the mix in the NL East with Mike Hampton out, John Smoltz hurting and Tom Glavine just back from the disabled list: Rookie Jair Jurrjens, acquired from Detroit last fall in the Edgar Renteria deal, is 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA in seven starts. "Nothing rattles J.J.," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Journal. "For a first full year in the big leagues, he has great mound presence and carries himself extremely well, on and off the field."
• It's a long way from Tempe, Ariz., to 6-0 -- where Angels starters Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana both are while in the midst of stunningly good starts. Saunders and Santana entered spring training expecting to battle for the No. 5 starter's slot, but when John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar were lost to the disabled list to begin the season, opportunity beckoned. And Saunders and Santana took off.
• Balancing act: Lowell, who was on the disabled list with a sprained thumb last month, says his left hand still is not as strong as his right hand. You could have fooled the Tigers, against whom he was 6-for-14 with two doubles, two homers and five RBI entering Thursday's series finale. Lowell is pleased with the progress, though, and figures the ol' left hand will catch up to the right in the near future.
• History lesson: Pittsburgh's Nate McLouth became the first Pirate to collect back-to-back multi-homer games at home since Ralph Kiner. "I guess that was probably awhile ago," McLouth, 26, surmised to Pittsburgh reporters. Well, depends on your perspective: Kiner turned the trick on Sept. 11 and 13, 1949, at Forbes Field.
• Next up: Senior discounts! When Tim Wakefield (41) and Mike Timlin (42) combined to shut out Detroit on Tuesday, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time in modern major league history that each pitcher who combined to throw a shutout was at least 40 years old.
• Here's hoping your retirement includes lounge chairs, cold beverages and lots of books and movies. Supposedly retired umpire Bruce Froemming showed up in Detroit this week -- working. Froemming is working for major league baseball, mentoring the young umpires being summoned from the minors this season as vacation and injury fill-ins. He says he's enjoying every minute of it, though.
• Not only were the Florida Marlins chugging along in first place in the NL East at midweek, they were leading the majors in star-sightings, too. After visiting with Larry the Cable guy during batting practice in Milwaukee late last week, the Marlins hosted Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston during last Friday's game with San Diego. Wilson and Aniston were filming a bit for a movie based on Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Grogan's memoir Marley and Me, about his late neurotic dog. "Larry the Cabel Guy's a funny man," Marlins outfielder Jeremy Hermida told Florida writers. "But I'll take Jennifer Aniston over him any day."
