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Playing safe with Coco

The Red Sox are taking it slowly with Coco Crisp’s strained left oblique, which means Crisp is getting another night of rest.

Wily Mo Pena will be in center tonight for the third straight game as Crisp sits.

``I said yesterday I thought he’d play today,’’ manager Terry Francona said, ``but I’m hopeful he’ll play tomorrow. The trainers keep saying we’re better off being cautious, which I understand. So we’ll wait another day.’’

``They want to make sure nothing happens. That’s a touchy area,’’ Crisp said. He, too, felt he could go. He did his normal pre-game workout. It was simply decided not to push the issue.

``Every player tells you he’s fine. Then they take one swing or make one bad movement and they miss six weeks,’’ Francona said. ``I thought Coco could play. But if there is a chance he goes out there and gets hurt, to me that doesn’t make any sense. I’d rather err on the side of caution.’’

After a bad start, Crisp had gone 8-for-20 in his last five games being being hurt.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 5:33 PM | Permalink