THE "IDIOTS" REVERSE THE CURSE

August 30, 2004 ... No game scheduled ... The Red Sox happily scattered to enjoy their day off.  The Angels, who trail the Sox by 1 1/2 games in the wild-card derby and arrive tomorrow as Terry Francona's crew opens a crucial stretch against its chief rivals for the wild card. The Sox play their next nine games against the Angels, Rangers, and A's.

Kevin Youkilis and David McCarty made rehab appearances tonight for Single A Lowell. Youkilis became the first former Lowell Spinner to make a rehab start with the team.

Timlin needs three appearances for 800 in his career. He has appeared in more games than any other active American Leaguer.

Trot Nixon, who has appeared in just 29 games this season because of back problems and a torn quadriceps, continues working toward a return before the end of the season. Along with Pokey Reese (strained oblique), he hit against minor league lefthander Tom Cochran, who spent most of the season in short-season Lowell.

Hanley Ramirez affirmed his standing as the organization's top prospect. Ramirez, a steal for the Sox when they signed him at 16 in the Dominican Republic for $20,000, overcame a midseason wrist injury to rise to Portland from Single A Sarasota. He entered yesterday batting a combined .311 with 6 homers, 39 RBIs, and 24 steals in 93 games. Ramirez had committed only two errors in 31 games for Portland after making 17 in 62 games for Sarasota.

Ramirez stood out among a group of shortstop prospects that included Dustin Pedroia, the team's top pick in the June draft out of Arizona State. Pedroia was batting .357 with three homers and 19 RBIs in 32 games for Single A Augusta and Sarasota. He had yet to commit an error in 42 games for the two teams. 

But no one position player turned more heads than outfielder Brandon Moss, who was named MVP of the South Atlantic League for Augusta before he moved up to Sarasota. A seventh-rounder in 2002 out of Loganville High School in Georgia, Moss, 20, hit .339 with 13 homers, 101 RBIs, and a .402 on-base percentage for Augusta before batting .422 with 2 homers, 10 RBIs, and a .462 OBP in his first 23 games with Sarasota.  Righthander Jon Papelbon, a fourth-rounder last year from Mississippi State, who went 12-7 with a 2.64 ERA and 153 strikeouts in 129 2/3 innings.

Lowell was led by Venezuelan righthander Anibal Sanchez, who went 3-4 with a 1.77 ERA, holding batters to a .160 average and fanning 101 in 76 1/3 innings.