BOSTON – Jacoby Ellsbury could not disguise his surprise when informed that he is currently second all-time to Tim Raines in consecutive stolen bases to start a career.Ellsbury, who sat out last night’s game against the Blue Jays with a strained groin, is 17-for-17 in stolen bases. Raines, who made his big-league debut in 1979, didn’t get caught until his 28th attempt, in 1981.”Oh, really?” Ellsbury said, before the full import of the factoid dawned on him. “Oh, major league? All time? I did not know. Now the pressure’s on me to get that, what do I need, 10 more, 11.”That’s an elite class. There’s been a ton of great base-stealers. You think of the great base-stealers over the years, Rickey Henderson, guys like that. That’s pretty amazing. I mean, Tim Raines? Great athlete, great base-stealer, great player. So, that’s pretty special.”In 1981, the season he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, Raines had 71 successful steals, getting caught 11 times, an 87 percent success rate. In his 23-year career, he had had 808 SBs, with 146 CSs, for an 85 percent success rate.Ellsbury, first in steals among rookies with eight, knows he’s a long way from Raines’ numbers. But, he wouldn’t mind being considered in Rock’s class.”I haven’t’ really modeled (my running) after anybody,” he said. “But I have watched a ton of film on guys like Rickey Henderson, Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Reyes, guys like that. I kind of took what I liked from them and just kind of modified what I like for me to feel comfortable.”The most important factor in base-stealing, obviously, is speed and getting a good jump. After that, Ellsbury said, it’s the non-physical.”Knowing your pitcher, knowing his tendencies, when he might (throw) home,” Ellsbury listed. “Knowing his (pitch) times. And just the time of game, the time of game when you might be going, watching for a pitchout. There are situations they think, ‘Hey, he might be going right here.’ Chances of a pitchout are pretty good. You might want to shut it down for that pitch, and then maybe the next pitch is the one to go on. So just understanding the game, understanding what they’re trying to do, what they’re trying to accomplish. But the biggest thing is getting your jump and just going. Once you get it, you got to go, there’s no hesitation.”Impressive, considering there are many pitchers he’s still seeing for the first time, as Raines did his rookie year.”Some of it comes from watching footage,” he said. “I’ll go online or pull up what (Sox video coordinator) Billy (Broadbent) has for us, and just pull it up real quick. I’m not in there for hours. I’ll just be in there, see (the pitcher) for 10 to 12 times and get a good understanding of him and hopefully he’s still doing it, hasn’t changed anything.”The Red Sox single-season record is 54 swipes, set in 1973 by Tommy Harper, whom Ellsbury considers one of his mentors, along with Lou Frazier, the former Sox minor-league coach who is now the first-base coach with the Pirates.”Those two guys, I’ve always been able to steal bases, but just understanding, once you get to the big league level, you have to understand situations, when to go,” Ellsbury said. “Before, it was just pretty much all speed. In high school and college I could just go. I wouldn’t have to really get worried about getting thrown out. But when you get to Triple A and the big leagues, that’s when you really have to start understanding the game and not just rely on pure speed.”Ellsbury has been given the green light this year, within certain constraints.”As long as I show them that I understand the game, understand the situation, that leash is going to continue to get longer, and longer, and longer,” he said. “There’s times that I’ll have the red light, situations where, hey, it’s not a good idea to go here. We’d rather have the guys behind me swing the bat. But as long as I keep on showing them that I know what’s going on and time to steal or not to steal, I’m sure I’ll have it.”Now, Raines’ numb