By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- No matter where the Red Sox turn these days, there are questions at the catching position.
Captain Jason Varitek is hitting just .043 (1-for-23 with nine strikeouts). Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the No. 1 catcher, meanwhile, has hit better of late, but can sometimes look lost behind the plate.
Friday night, in the Red Sox' 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Saltalamacchia was 0-for-3 in throwing out runners attempting to steal.
Worse, Red Sox pitchers were charged with two wild pitches on balls Saltalamacchia got his glove on but couldn't catch.
But the low point came in the eighth when Saltalamacchia couldn't glove a two-seamer or split-finger fastball from Bobby Jenks. The ball squirted through his legs and rolled all the way to the backstop.
Saltalamacchia tossed his mask off and looked frantically for the ball, not noticing that it had rolled to the backstop directly behind him.
Boston Red Sox
As teamamtes pointed to the ball, Bobby Abreu scored all the way from second base, cutting the Red Sox lead to a single run.
"It's frustrating,''said Terry Francona, "but the good part of it was we had the lead. And we kept the lead.''
Asked if he felt the catcher was fighting himself behind the plate, Francona responded: "A little bit. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. It's a lot easier to play when you feel good and confident. I think he's fighting it a little bit.''
"It's frustrating, you know?'' said Saltalamachia. "I've never done that before. I can't remember ever doing that but we still got the win. I just lost it. It hit off my glove. A couple of plays in that game, it hit off my glove. I knew what pitch was coming, it just hit off my glove and went to the backstop.''
But when asked how frustrated he's been over his struggles the last two weeks, Saltalamacchia seemed puzzled.
"What do you mean?'' asked Saltalamacchia. "What do you mean struggling?''
The Sox were thin in the bullpen, with Daniel Bard unavailable, having pitched an inning and two-thirds Wednesday and another inning Thursday.
After Matt Albers allowed a run on two soft hits in the seventh, Bobby Jenks entered and gave up two runs -- one on Saltalamacchia's passed ball -- in the eighth.
That meant closer Jonathan Papelbon was needed in the ninth for his third appearance is as many days.
Papelbon, however, looked anything but tired, allowing a single but otherwise turning back the Angels for his fifth save. His fastball had great life and he appeared overpoweing at times.
"Everything was strikes,'' marveled Francona. "That was exactly what we needed. I think it shows how hard he's worked, is what it shows. Sometimes, you expect a guy (who's pitched a lot) to command but drop off a little bit with stuff. His stuff was phenomenal.
"You give him the ball, he's ready to go.''
With Kevin Youkilis out, leaving the Sox with only four natural infielders, Francona was asked the identity of his emergency infielder.
The answer: Mike Cameron.
"He was excited,'' said Francona. "He's the only one who was excited. He was in there taking a defensive stance in the dugout, getting loose, calling himself Bill Madlock (former National League All-Star third baseman) . . . He was having fun with it, probably more than we were.''
Cameron took some grounders at third before Friday's game.
The Sox kept Jed Lowrie at third Friday night and had Marco Scutaro at short -- the same alignment they had from the bottom of the second inning on Thursday night, after Youkilis was removed from the game. Jacoby Ellsbury moved back to the top of the lineup and David Ortiz took Youkilis' spot in the cleanup position with Lowrie fifth, followed by J.D. Drew.
In the big picture, the Red Sox were relieved that outfielder Ryan Kalish, who landed hard on his left shoulder Thursday while making a diving catch in Pawtucket, was suffering from a "significant shoulder sprain,'' but incurred no structural damage to the shoulder.
Kalish was examined Friday by Dr. Thomas Gill.
He'll begin a rehab program immediately and be looked at again in two weeks.
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam