Sore left groin forces Cameron to sit tight

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Mike Cameron was on the field only briefly yesterday before informing first base coach Ron Johnson that he was having trouble getting loose.Once Red Sox manager Terry Francona found out, Cameron was walked back to the clubhouse by medical operations coordinator Jim Rowe and spent the rest of the day receiving treatment on a sore left groin.The 37-year-old center fielder is expected to miss Wednesday’s split-squad doubleheader against Northeastern and Boston College.“I doubt if we’ll play him in that doubleheader,’’ Francona said. “That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.’’Cameron rode a stationary bicycle and got stretched by team masseur Russell Nua before yesterday’s workout but still didn’t feel right.“I just wasn’t quite getting loose the way I wanted to. I guess this is the first sign of me getting a little bit older, just kind of listening to the body a little bit,’’ Cameron said. “I’ll be fine. If I had to play a game, I could play a game. I just didn’t want to push it with the body just starting to get shocked into this.’’Francona was under the impression that Cameron first felt discomfort during a conditioning test last Tuesday. Cameron said it came up the last few days.“We’ve been doing a lot of running the last three or four days,’’ he said. “Some guys’ bodies respond different. It does me no good to go out here and prove I can be an iron man on Feb. 28.’’Cameron said he has not had issues with his groin in the past.“This is no big deal,’’ he said. “I’m just being careful.’’Daisuke diary Another day, another game of catch for Daisuke Matsuzaka, who arrived at camp with a sore back and has yet to take the mound.But Matsuzaka was throwing from 150 feet this time, usually the final test of arm strength for a pitcher before he gets back on the mound. Once that happens, he would throw every other day and presumably follow the same routine as the other starters in terms of throwing batting practice.“We’re not going to short-cut anybody. That’s not a good way to do things,’’ Francona said. “We’ll set up hitters for him and things like that.’’If that is the case, Matsuzaka is at least 7-10 days away from pitching in a game. At that point of spring training, Matsuzaka is unlikely to have enough time to get the innings a starter needs to prepare for the season.If the Sox designate Matsuzaka as the fifth starter, they could wait until April 18 to use him thanks to the days off built into the first two weeks of the schedule.His turn now Ryan Kalish was an accomplished quarterback at Red Bank Catholic in New Jersey, good enough to consider playing in college before he turned his attention to baseball.But it wasn’t until his senior year that Kalish really got a chance to throw the ball. Before that, his job was handing off to Donald Brown, who went on star at the University of Connecticut and is now with the Indianapolis Colts.“He was unbelievable for us,’’ Kalish said. “But he was kind of small and the big schools wanted him to play cornerback. UConn recruited him as a running back and that’s why he went there.’’Brown rushed for a modest 281 yards as a rookie last season but scored three touchdowns and in the Super Bowl picked up 18 yards on four carries.“We keep in touch, mostly text messages,’’ Kalish said. “He got where he wanted to go and now I’m trying to do the same thing.’’Kalish, who turns 22 later this month, had a solid season for Double A Portland in 2009 and is hoping to start this year with Triple A Pawtucket.Getting ready Casey Kelly, who will start against Northeastern, threw batting practice to Jacoby Ellsbury (who took him deep) and Dustin Pedroia (who tried to take him deep and failed). “He’s polished,’’ Pedroia said of the 20-year-old righthander. “He’ll be fine. The command, his presence. He has a real good idea of what he wants to do and you usually don’t see that with a guy his age.’’ . . . Unseasonably chilly weather has cut down on the amount of fans attending the workouts.Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com.