Francona May Turn to Wakefield, Lowe

As it stood in the hours before Game 2 of the American League championship series, Curt Schilling not yet declared out but close, Boston Red Sox Manager Terry Francona expected to start Tim Wakefield in Game 4 and could start Derek Lowe in Game 5.

While Wakefield and Lowe can be capable and had their moments of effectiveness during the season, few of those moments have come recently, part of the reason Wakefield was stationed at the end of the playoff rotation and Lowe not at all.

Wakefield’s earned-run average in the season’s final month was 7.24. In his last four starts of the regular season, Lowe gave up 24 hits and 16 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings.

Like most of the Red Sox, Lowe held to the optimistic view that Schilling would pitch Sunday. There also was a lot of baseball to play before then.

“We need the next three guys to pitch good games for Game 5 to even matter,” Lowe said. “That’s the big picture.”

One of Francona’s other options is Pedro Martinez on three days’ rest, particularly if by Sunday the Red Sox are fending off elimination.

“If it’s up to me, I will pitch on short rest to pick up Schill,” Martinez said.

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Kenny Lofton, and not Ruben Sierra, was the designated hitter in Game 2, Yankee Manager Joe Torre again relying on Lofton’s recent past against the starting pitcher, in this case Pedro Martinez. Lofton also had a handful of good at-bats in Game 1, notably a sixth-inning home run against Wakefield.

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The Yankees have not made official their Game 4 starter, but Orlando Hernandez appears to be Torre’s preference over Javier Vazquez.

Hernandez experienced fatigue in his right shoulder near the end of the regular season and was unavailable for the division series. He threw in the bullpen Tuesday and said Wednesday his shoulder was, “Bueno,” though Torre said he’d wait at least until today to make a decision.

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Torre felt returning to the team and pitching would provide something of a refuge for closer Mariano Rivera, who has been coping with the deaths of two of his wife’s cousins in an accident at Rivera’s home in Panama Saturday.

“Every minute, every moment you have by yourself, it’s there,” said Rivera, who flew from Panama to New York on Tuesday after the funeral for his wife’s relatives and saved the Yankees’ 10-7 Game 1 victory over the Red Sox. “I don’t know ... I’ve never experienced anything like that before, and it was tough.”

Rivera’s wife, Clara, remained in Panama with her family. Rivera said he would not return home to be with his family on any of the off days.

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The Yankees’ 10-7 victory over the Red Sox in Game 1 got a 10.0 national Nielsen rating with a 16% share of the audience.

It was the highest rating for a nine-inning opening game of the AL championship series since 1993, when Game 1 between the Blue Jays and White Sox drew an 11.3/19.

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Times staff writers Mike DiGiovanna and Larry Stewart contributed to this report.