FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox third
baseman Mike Lowell said his bruised left knee feels much better one day
after he fouled a pitch off it.
Lowell said that the swelling had gone
down on Saturday, but that it's still difficult to flex his leg after
injuring it in the first inning of Friday's game against the Blue Jays.
"I feel great compared to yesterday,"
he said. "The swelling under the kneecap's a little annoying. I can't
really flex my quad, but I figure it's gone down probably to about a
quarter of what it was yesterday. So I think that's good."
Lowell planned to ice the knee and
ride a stationary bike.
Boston manager Terry Francona, with
the team in Sarasota to play the Orioles, was unsure when Lowell would
play again and said that it was too early to decide if he would need to
be put on the disabled list.
Friday and Saturday were to have been
Lowell's first days playing back-to-back games. He got a slow start to
spring training after having surgery Dec. 30 to repair a torn radial
collateral ligament in his right thumb and is still hindered by the
effects of surgery in October 2008 to repair a torn labrum in his right
hip.
Lowell, who lost his starting third
base job to offseason acquisition Adrian Beltre, is still hoping he can
be ready for the start of the regular season.
"I think it's a minor setback," he
said. "I think I was looking forward to yesterday and today hittingwise
more than any other day because it's back to back and I would have
gotten basically the full at-bats of the game."