By Maureen Mullen
CSNNE.com
FORT MYERS, Fla.Tim Wakefield entered in relief of Daisuke Matsuzaka in Saturdays 11-2 loss to the Marlins at City of Palms Park. It was the second time in as many outings hes come in to relieve the Japanese right-hander. Although, hes come in from the bullpen in both Grapefruit League outings, Wakefield is approaching his appearances this spring as starts.
Yeah, he said. Because you never know what might happen inspring training. They put me on (the list to start) the first day, that they were going to stretch me out as a starter because you never know what might happen. And they'd be behind theeight ballif somebody got hurt or something else happened. So, that's the way I have to approach every spring training regardless of what my role might be and when spring is over see what my role might be.
Wakefield went 2 23 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
"I was going to throw three (innings) or 50 (pitches Saturday and obviously the 50 came before the three, but I felt good, he said. Manager Terry Francona came out and said, You're at 58. I really didn't feel I had thrown almost 60 pitches so that told me I'm in shape and keep going."
Which makes him confident of a good season ahead for himself.
"I just think last year coming off surgery, I had a full offseason to really work out to get back to normal instead of rehabbing muscles in the offseason, he said. So I feel a lot stronger now and see what happens."
Boston Red Sox
With Josh Beckett and Matsuzaka injured for a good portion of 2010, Wakefield made 19 starts. When asked his chances of making 20 starts, Wakefield replied:
"Regardless of whether I do or not (get 20 starts) I want to help us win ballgames as much as possible and hopefully I'll get the opportunity to get in there and help us win that way too."
The Red Sox squad that traveled to Sarasota to play the Orioles, managed by bench coach DeMarlo Hale, ended with a 10-inning, 4-4 tie. Alfredo Aceves pitched three innings, giving up one run (unearned) on two hits. Dennys Reyes, in his first appearance for the Sox, pitched one scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Lenny DiNardo was charged with a blown save. Jose Iglesias went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Oscar Tejeda went 3-for-5, with a triple and three RBI. Baltimores Jake Fox hit a game-tying home run off Matt Fox in the ninth inning.
Carl Crawford went 2-for-3, his first hits of the spring, with a walk in Sarasota.
Left-hander Jon Lester, who was scheduled to start Sunday against the Mets in Port St. Lucie, has been scratched with the flu. Michael Bowden will start.
J.D. Drew was also out Saturday with the flu.
Brent Dlugach was re-evaluated Saturday morning and diagnosed with a shoulder dislocation event. He has started his rehab program and will begin baseball activities once his range of motion and strength are ready.
Yamaico Navarro went 2-for-2 with his first home run.
Darnell McDonald went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Bobby Jenks went one inning, with two strikeouts.
That was a really sharpbreaking ballwe saw today, Francona said. His velocity was a little bit more than we expected early on in camp, but that was a really good inning. A day like today, when you're getting beat around, you can hang your hat on a couple of the good things that happened and try to fix the things that didn't work.
Daniel Bard had a rough outing, going 23 of an inning against the Marlins, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks, facing six batters.
Bardo just didn't really bring it from the bullpen to the game, Francona said. He felt good in the bullpen, but the first couple of hitters he was really fighting it. You could tell. He threw a lot of pitches, his velocity was fine. He just needs a little bit of work.
Dustin Pedroia was in the clubhouse after the game against the Marlins, carrying three hot dogs he had just procured from a City of Palms Park concession stand.
Awesome, he declared of his snacks.
Maureen Mullen is on Twitter at http:twitter.commaureenamullen