M's Notes: Ibanez enjoys Boston history

BOSTON — The hallowed ground around here obviously includes a number of places where battles were fought, Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill (where the monument stands, although the fight was on nearby Breed's Hill) or the famous are buried, Old Granary, final resting place for John Hancock and James Otis and the storyteller believed to be Mother Goose.

But another is left field at Fenway Park, covered by Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski and before them Duffy Lewis, who from 1912 to 1917 became adept at running up the slope called Duffy's Cliff to the foot of the wall that later became the Green Monster.

It is in that place you will find Raul Ibanez this weekend, in left for the Mariners and knowing it.

"You don't have to look around to know where you are and how historic it is," he said. "You can feel it. You can just feel the history, all the stories and the years in this park, all the great players and great games. Just being out there is a wonderful experience."

If you didn't feel the history of Fenway, you'd feel the wall.

"It's really odd," Ibanez said. "You can feel it like it's leaning on you. It's so big, so high. It's really cool."

In addition, left field in Fenway is a small place, the reason that lesser defenders such as Williams and now Manny Ramirez can play in the field.

"It's not only a shallow field," Ibanez said. "When you add the wall, it exaggerates the size and makes it seem really tiny out there. Then you've got the guys inside the wall, working the scoreboard. You know they're back there and that's unique, too."

Not only is there the small area of left itself, and the Monster. But Ibanez noted that the depth of the warning track also reduces the feel of the field. "It's the deepest track in the game," he said. "I paced it and it's five strides. That's a lot."

Normal warning tracks, designed to let the fielder know he was approaching the wall as he ran, are three running strides deep. Left field in Boston has always been deeper, with the idea of giving the fielder as much warning as possible because the wall cannot be padded with the scoreboard set into it.

As far as Fenway fans go, the Green Monster is one reason Ibanez is not bothered by them as much as a place such as Cleveland, where they were chanting nasty comments at him during last week's series at Jacobs Field.

"It's especially rowdy in the home run porch area, closer to the corner, where they can stand," he said of Cleveland. "The worst part was the curses. What the fans yell at you is all fair game, but not cursing."

To Ibanez and many others, Cleveland is worse than Boston or New York, which have worse reputations for fan behavior.

"Here and [in] New York it's just so noisy you can't really hear anything but a constant roar," he said. "But you can still feel the anger."

Wells will miss start

David Wells will not face Seattle tomorrow. The Red Sox announced Saturday the veteran left-hander had gone on the disabled list with a strained right knee. They promoted Jermaine Van Buren from Pawtucket, but did not announce who will start the Patriots Day morning game.

Knuckle preview

The Mariners gave their hitters a preview of Tim Wakefield's knuckleball by having coach Dan Rohn throw batting practice. "But really, there's no way to prepare for it," manager Mike Hargrove said. "It's the only pitch I ever went to swing at and was never sure I was going to make contact."

Of facing Curt Schilling's fastball at 94-95 mph, then Wakefield's knuckler at 70-72 less than 24 hours later, Hargrove called them, "the alpha and omega."

Beltre gets help

Hargrove and hitting coach Jeff Pentland met with struggling Adrian Beltre before the game.

"Sure, he's pressing," Hargrove said of the third baseman, who is hitting .119 and went into the game 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position. "But his last two at-bats [Friday], he showed a good solid approach and that's encouraging."

Hargrove explained that Beltre did not lunge after pitches. "He stayed back and let the ball travel to him. He didn't try to do too much."