From ESPN
Boston Red Sox: The good news: Trot Nixon's strained left oblique muscle is healing faster than expected, according to the Boston Globe.
The bad news: The Red Sox and doctors won't let him play yet.
"I'd play on Monday," Nixon told the Globe on Friday. "[The doctors] would say no."
The Globe reported that Nixon, who missed his 14th straight game Friday, caught fly balls, fielded grounders and hit soft toss -- manager Terry Francona told the Globe that Nixon took around 60 cuts -- about four hours before Friday's game.
"He's progressing rapidly, quicker than he thought he would," Francona told the Globe. "You all saw what we saw [when he was hurt July 26 swinging and missing]. It looked like he got shot. I think I'm surprised he feels this good this quick.
"We're going to have to sit all over him, because he's feeling good. We're going to have to put a harness on him," Francona said.
Nixon told the Globe he'd repeat his workout Saturday and might hit live batting practice.
"The big hurdle will be cutting loose, me swinging like I usually swing," Nixon told the Globe. "Running full speed, coming up and making throws to certain bases, and cutting it loose [with my bat] are probably the three greatest challenges anyone's going to have with this.
"We'll go through next week and see how it goes," he said