FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Wade Miller reared back and lobbed.

The pitcher the Red Sox envision as a cornerstone of their rotation isn’t throwing hard yet as he recovers from a serious shoulder injury. At least he threw from a mound for the first time in spring training Tuesday.

“It felt a little weird getting back up there, just mechanically,” he said. “Everything has to work itself out. I haven’t been on the mound since August and even then I wasn’t 100 percent. So it’s been quite a while.”

Miller last pitched for the Houston Astros on June 25 in a 3-1 loss to Texas. He went on the disabled list later that month with a frayed rotator cuff and signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract as a free agent with Boston on Dec. 23 after resting the frayed rotator cuff rather than choosing surgery.

If healthy, he can be a strong No. 2 starter. In 2001 and 2002, he went 31-12 with Houston. Last season, he was 7-7 in just 15 games but had an impressive 3.35 ERA.

The Red Sox aren’t rushing him back and he knows he could start the season on the disabled list.

On Tuesday, none of his 27 pitches traveled at more than 75 percent of his top speed, “if that,” as he tried to regain the feel for throwing downhill from a mound, Miller said.

“I knew was a matter of time before I got back on there so it was something I had to do,” he said. “It’s still a work in progress right now.”

He didn’t expect his arm to hurt Wednesday and probably will throw a similar session on Friday or Saturday. He’ll have several more before he tries to throw at his normal speed.

“I didn’t have very good mechanics today,” Miller said. “I played catch for a month and a half before I got on the mound. Now it’s going to take some time for me to get some control.”

That’s fine with manager Terry Francona, who has a deep rotation even without Miller.

“There are some issues that he dealt with the past couple of years, but I prefer to look at it the glass is half full,” Francona said, “but we have some work to do and we have some patience that we need to attend to but I think we’re going to get Wade Miller at some point being a pretty good pitcher.”

Three other pretty good pitchers gave Francona plenty of reason to be optimistic Tuesday. Curt Schilling made progress in his third bullpen session of spring training, David Wells threw batting practice for the first time and Matt Mantei looked strong in the bullpen.

Schilling has shown no signs of instability in his right ankle in spring training since his surgery early in November and hopes to be ready to start opening day on April 3 at the New York Yankees.

“I thought he took a big step today. I thought he probably felt the same way,” Francona said. “He looked more confident and that’s not surprising.

“His arm’s fine. His leg’s actually fine. He’s just trying to build up the strength. I don’t think Schill’s going to hurt himself. Wade Miller’s a different story. We want him to continue to get stronger and he understands what we’re doing.”

Francona was impressed with Mantei, another pitcher coming off an injury shortened season.

“Tremendous. The ball’s coming out of his hand like we want it to,” Francona said. “Matt Mantei hasn’t pitched in a game in 10 months. It’s a long time.”

Shoulder tendinitis limited him to 12 games with an 0-3 record and 11.81 ERA last year with Arizona. But as the Diamondbacks’ closer in 2003, he was 5-4 with a 2.62 ERA and 29 saves. He’s expected to join Mike Timlin and Alan Embree as short relievers in front of closer Keith Foulke.

Notes:Only three regulars from last year’s World Series championship team – Mark Bellhorn, Jason Varitek and Kevin Millar – are in Francona’s starting lineup for Thursday night’s exhibition opener against Minnesota. Matt Clement is slated to be the starting pitcher. … Boston will have a short workout Wednesday morning before flying to Washington, D.C., to be honored as champions by President Bush at the White House.

AP-ES-03-01-05 1840EST