MANNY RAMIREZ

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM

October 17, 2007 ... No game scheduled ... What the Red Sox had billed as an optional workout was well attended. The only position players who did not come out were Crisp, Lugo, and David Ortiz. Game 4 starter Tim Wakefield also was not on the premises, nor was most of the bullpen, Manny Delcarmen, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Hideki Okajima, Javier Lopez, and Eric Gagne. Starter Curt Schilling threw early, and Daisuke Matsuzaka also worked out early.

Manny Ramirez crushed a batting practice ball, sending it up about 12 rows into the seats in left-center field. He sent the next one a handful of rows into the seats in left. Then, on the final ball in his set, Ramirez decimated the pitch, his swing propelling it near the spot where his 451-foot home run had landed Tuesday night, out to dead center. And as he watched it sail out of Jacobs Field, Ramirez dropped his bat, raised his arms, and a grin dominated his face. Though it wasn't his three-run home run to win Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Angels, or even his solo shot Tuesday to finish off the back-to-back-to-back homers by the Red Sox in their 7-3 loss to the Indians in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series, Ramirez was clearly playing off his reputation for styling, appearing to repeatedly show up the pitchers whose offerings he has sent out of the park.

Jason Varitek will be back behind the plate and Bobby Kielty will be in right field tonight for the Red Sox when the American League Championship Series resumes with Game 5. Those are the only lineup changes alluded to by manager Terry Francona. Jacoby Ellsbury? Barring a last-minute surprise, the rookie won't face Indians lefthander C.C. Sabathia.

It's not just about loyalty, Francona said when asked why he isn't contemplating additional changes for a team that has scored just five runs in the last two games, all on home runs. The numbers in a short series can make for an unreliable sampling. Julio Lugo is batting .143 (2 for 14) in the ALCS. Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia are hitting .188 (3 for 16), and J.D. Drew has no extra-base hits or walks in the first seven games of the postseason. Jhonny Peralta of the Indians, meanwhile, is slugging .824 in the ALCS, the result of his two three-run home runs and two doubles.