PORTLAND — Jacoby Ellsbury as a prodigal son?

Not hardly.

The former Sea Dog center fielder ”“ who has moved on to better things in Boston ”“ is welcome to come back to Portland anytime he chooses.

His old fans showed him as much, Tuesday, when he returned to Hadlock for a rehab appearance with the Dogs.

Ellsbury, who has a full month on the shelf with four cracked ribs, delighted the standing-room-only crowd of 7,368 at Hadlock, even as he went 0-for-3 (with a walk) in the Sea Dogs’ 2-1 win over the New Britain Rock Cats.

“Even though I didn’t get a hit tonight,” Ellsbury said, “My at bats felt comfortable in the (batter’s) box. Seeing the pitches. Having good takes. Hits will come when the timing’s on.

“Tonight, I wanted to get some longer ”˜AB’s, and get some good swings on some pitches.”

Ellsbury was treated to a standing ovation for his first at bat, to which he responded with a wave to the crowd.

“It was fun out there,” he said. “The fans were great. It’s exciting (to be back). Unfortunately, you don’t want to be here for this reason. But it’s nice to see a lot of familiar faces. My time here was great. We won the Eastern League (in 2006), and it was a great time to be a Sea Dog.”

Ellsbury led off the bottom of the first but never got the bat off his shoulder, having worked a five pitch (with one called strike) walk off New Britain righthander Carlos Guitierrez.

His legs didn’t get much of a test, either, as Che-Hsuan Lin singled him to second and he scored easily when Ryan Kalish reached on an error.

He led off the third, too, and battled to a full count, fouling a pitch off his foot (with no apparent ill effect) in the process, before grounding out to third.

“My first two at bats,” Ellsbury said, “I was trying to see some pitches. Get that timing down. I thought I did pretty good by getting deep in the count.

A pop to shallow right in the fifth, and a foul pop to the catcher in the eighth completed his night at the plate.

“My third ”˜AB’,” he said, “I ran down the line, and I felt pretty good. The fourth one, I think I was also a little anxious. He threw me a change up and I got out in front of it a little bit.”

Ellsbury was scheduled to return to Boston to meet with  Francona and the club’s medical staff today. Whether he will need more rehab time or be cleared to play in Boston could be decided then.

While Ellsbury was leaving, center fielder Mike Cameron will be arriving here.

Cameron, who is recovering from a sports hernia, will rehab with the Sea Dogs Wednesday.

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.