Left fielder Jason Bay averted a serious wrist injury on a diving catch he attempted on Jason Giambi's double in the second inning of the series opener. Extending flat out to his right, the ball ticked off the end of his glove and Bay's momentum rolled his glove hand inward, with his body going over it.

Bay, well aware of the Yankees' Hideki Matsui breaking his wrist on a similar play in New York against the Red Sox three years ago, thought it was going to be bad.

``Exactly,'' said Bay, who played last night. ``When it first happened and I was running after the ball, I was kind of like, `I think I did something.' I was more digging around and prodding and pulling, and I really didn't know what it was and I really didn't have any reason to do so.

``Turns out it was nothing. I was a little nervous afterwards. I was more looking for something that hurt than having something that hurt.''

Bay said he woke up yesterday and ``kind of forgot I had even done it. It didn't even bother me. Knock on wood, I avoided that.''

Bay also got knocked around in the seventh inning when he busted up a double play with Mike Lowell at the plate with a hard slide on second baseman Bobby Crosby.

``It got me more in the shoulder. When I got in the dugout, I had a knot in my shoulder,'' he said. ``Everything happened so quick. I was trying to save Mikey and get him on first base.''

Off to rehab

Today, the two disabled Red Sox - starter John Smoltz (shoulder) and outfielder Mark Kotsay (back) - will fly to Fort Myers for rehab in extended spring training. Smoltz will throw a bullpen session on Saturday, a prelude to his first game action, scheduled for five days later when he will throw two innings. Assuming no setbacks, Smoltz will be on a five-day progression from there. Kotsay is scheduled to serve as a designated hitter on Friday. . . .

The Sox made a waiver wire pickup, claiming the Padres' Travis Denker and optioning him to Pawtucket. Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, a Rule 5 pickup, was put on the 60-day DL (elbow surgery) to make room for Denker on the 40-man roster.

Denker rose four levels in the Giants system last year before making his major league debut for them, playing 24 games and hitting .243. He played one game for the Padres' Double-A team in San Antonio this year.

Rough start

The Red Sox' 2-5 start is their worst first seven games since posting the same record in 1996 when they started 2-12. The only team with a worse record in the AL as of yesterday was the 1-6 Indians. The Sox posted a worse record through seven games seven other times in franchise history. There were six 1-6 starts and one 0-7 start in 1945. . . .

With his back-to-back pickoffs in the fourth inning Monday night, Jon Lester was the first Sox pitcher to pull off that feat since Bill Lee did it on Aug. 14, 1975. Jerry Remy was one of his victims. . . .

With his 180th consecutive game without an error, center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury extended the longest streak ever by a Red Sox outfielder.

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