Terry Francona said that Jonathan Papelbon, who gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning and whose spring ERA is 12.60, "just got out in front" with his delivery.
"Everything was flat today," Francona said.
Papelbon, whose next outing will be a two-inning session at the minor league camp, said he has no concern over his recent struggles. "Not a bit," Papelbon said when asked if he was worried.
In other news, the Red Sox optioned Lars Anderson to Triple-A Pawtucket and reassigned Juan Carlos Linares to the minor league camp.
Look for more extended news on all of these items, as well as John Lackey's afternoon.
We are back at you Friday morning when Detroit comes to town in the first of a pair of split-squad games. Half of the Boston roster will play at Tampa Bay at night.
Final, Red Sox 8-5: Finally, the last out is recorded at City of Palms Park. More from the clubhouse in a moment.
3:51 p.m.: Well, we thought it would be a nice easy ninth and we could all head to the pub, but Jonathan Papelbon walks two, hits a batter and gives up a pair of doubles. It all adds up to four runs and he is removed with two outs in the ninth.
Papelbon was facing a series of minor leaguers.
Eammon Portice is on to try to get the last out.
End 8th, Red Sox 8-1: Drew Sutton has had a pretty nice spring. He just launched a two-run homer to right, his second of the year, to make it a seven-run game.
Jonathan Papelbon is on to get the last three outs.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-1: A hit and a walk put Daniel Bard in a bit of hot water in the eighth. Three straight popouts gets him into the dugout in a matter of moments.
John Lackey just told us that some of the reason he may have been given the nod as the No. 2 starter is that he is ahead of where he was last spring.
Lackey couldn't get out of spring training healthy in his final two years with the Angels, so he was a bit careful in March 2010, and paid for it a bit with a slight lack of arm strength going into the year.
This year, Lackey is throwing all of his pitches and said his velocity and arm strength are right where they need to be.
More on Lackey after we hear from Francona.
3:17 p.m.: A Jorge Jimenez single scored Daniel Nava in the bottom of the seventh and the Mets are now batting in the eighth. They have two on and one out against Daniel Bard.
3:02 p.m.: Off to hear from John Lackey. Back with all y'all in a moment.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 5-1: A smooth frame for Scott Atchison in the seventh and the Sox are six outs from winning their sixth straight at home.
Just saw my first green mohawk of the day, and it was accompanied by the first green goatee of the day.
End 6th, Red Sox 5-1: A couple of things to note in the sixth. One, Lars Anderson struck out looking and a fan that had yet to be heard from unleashed a 10-second diatribe against Anderson for all to hear. Something about making sure Anderson found some nice real estate in Portland.
That was the sixth inning of a game on March 16. Take it easy, guy.
Also, Nate Spears put up a really good at-bat before making the final out. He is 25 and has barely been above Double-A and will never get the headlines like others in the system, but Spears is a nice little player. He seems to do a lot of things well, if not spectacular, and can play multiple positions. He already has two of the teams' five runs scored in this one.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 5-1: Rich Hill gives up a hit but nothing else and continues his solid spring.
John Lackey threw 78 pitches, 46 for strikes.
2:34 p.m.: John Lackey gets the first out of the sixth, then walks his first batter of the spring. That was enough in terms of work for the big right-hander.
Rich Hill has come on in relief.
End 5th, Red Sox 5-1: An RBI single by Carl Crawford, his second of the game, gives the Sox their third run of the game and two more came in when Jed Lowrie's fly to left with two outs was completely lost in the sun by Nick Evans.
Lowrie is credited with a two-run double, but it really was the latest gaffe by the Mets, who also have two errors.
Jacoby Ellsbury also reached in the fifth. He, Crawford and Lowrie were all removed in favor of a pinch runner.
John Lackey is jogging out for a sixth inning of work.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 2-1: The Mets get a pair of singles to start the fifth, move both runners up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt and then get the bases loaded with John Lackey hits Luis Hernandez in the foot.
Lackey needed a groundball to get out of it and he got it, but Hernandez did a nice job of sliding hard into second base and preventing shortstop Jed Lowrie from finishing a potential inning-ending double play.
End 4th, Red Sox 2-0: Lars Anderson just whiffed on some high cheese from Jonathon Niese, putting an end to an extremely quick fourth inning.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 2-0: John Lackey gave up a couple of singles in the fourth but the Mets remain in search of their first run.
Lackey's spring ERA is now 1.35 and he has still not walked a man in 14 1/3 innings.
End 3rd, Red Sox 2-0: Jonathon Niese struck out three in a row in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the third, he gives up three straight singles. Throw in an error and a great hustle play by Jacoby Ellsbury and it was enough for two Red Sox runs.
Nate Spears started the rally with a one-out single. Ellsbury followed with one of his own and Carl Crawford then squeezed a grounder into right field, scoring Spears.
Ellsbury raced from first to third on the Crawford hit and when the throw home bounced away from catcher Josh Thole toward the mound, Ellsbury dashed home and made it with a slide. Not many guys would've had the mind to even try it, and very few would've had the legs to succeed.
Crawford later swiped second and went to third when Thole's error sailed into center. Aggressiveness on the bases by Boston pays off, even though Crawford was stranded.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Two more pretty well-hit balls result in outs for John Lackey, and he is through the third in no time at all.
For those of you looking for quality coverage of the NCAA Tournament games, follow Jeff Howe's live blog. Nobody can figure out those new channel settings anyway.
End 2nd, 0-0: Chin-lung Hu with the play of the day so far as he robs Lars Anderson of a single with a nice sliding stop at third base to end the second.
Just a reminder that the Red Sox are continuing to conduct a relief drive for earthquake/tsunami victims in Japan. Players were at the gates here at City of Palms Park collecting donations, just as they were Monday night.
Donations can be made through the Red Sox Foundation, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Red Cross relief efforts.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Nick Evans lined a hard shot to left that was caught for the first out and Lucas Duda did the same to right, only after smashing a couple of line drives foul down the line.
A few hard-hit balls off John Lackey so far. The new "No. 2 starter" has recorded a strikeout to end both frames.
A few notes regarding the next two days. Friday is a split-squad day. The team will be hosting Detroit at 1:05 p.m. Friday and playing another contest at night in Port Charlotte against Tampa Bay.
Clay Buchholz will start vs. the Tigers while Tim Wakefield gets the assignement against the Rays.
In the midst of all of that, Bobby Jenks is going to throw two innings in a minor league game. Terry Francona, who plans to manage both games Friday, said that every reliever will be given a chance to throw two innings and to throw on consecutive days before the spring comes to an end.
Hideki Okajima will throw one inning in a minor league game on Saturday.
End 1st, 0-0: Jonathon "Don't Spell My Name 'Jonathan'" Niese just struck out my side in the bottom of the first.
Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford and Mike Cameron all go down in a span of 12 pitches. Solid stuff from the lefty.
Mid 1st, 0-0: John Lackey works around a two-out double by fanning the highly regarded Ike Davis to end the top of the first inning.
12:23 p.m.: It looks as though our wonderful publishing tool gobbled up my prior post so I apologize for the long gap in updates.
Just heard from Josh Beckett. He had great things to say about Jon Lester deserving the Opening Day start, and seemed just fine with being tabbed as the fourth guy to go.
"Those are his decisions," Beckett said of Terry Francona. "Just like I would always feel that he would back me up, I would back him up on his decisions as well."
Among the scenes here are a very green City of Palms Park is a line of workers itching for some corned beef and cabbage up here in the press box, and a man sporting an Acie Earl Celtics jersey, seemingly an effort to stick out in a sea of green shirts. I mean, Acie Earl?
Also, the Red Sox are sporting a slight alteration to their green jerseys this year. There is a white band across the shoulder and down the sides. It's a nice change, I think.
10:14 a.m.: Some quick news items to pass along.
First, Terry Francona has laid out his rotation after Opening Day starter Jon Lester. John Lackey will pitch April 2 at Texas, followed by Clay Buchholz the following afternoon.
After a day off, Josh Beckett goes at Cleveland in the fourth game of the year. Daisuke Matsuzaka is the fifth to go.
More coming on what went into that decision in a story on the site.
Also, three more roster cuts were made, this time involving some of the top prospects in the system, but no surprises. Shortstop Jose Iglesias, infielder Yamaico Navarro and catcher Luis Exposito were all optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.
Look for more on that as well.
9:13 a.m.: It is another spectacular, sunny day here in Fort Myers and there is extra something in the air with everyone wearing green and singing songs.
OK, so the singing hasn't started yet and I'm only drinking coffee right now, but it's sure to be a fun day at City of Palms Park.
The Red Sox have posted their lineup, which looks like this:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Carl Crawford, LF
Mike Cameron, DH
Jed Lowrie, SS
J.D. Drew, RF
Paul Hoover, C
Lars Anderson, 1B
Drew Sutton, 3B
Nate Spears, 2B
8 a.m.: Happy St. Patrick's Day, Red Sox fans. We have a Grapefruit League treat to go along with your corned beef and cabbage as Boston hosts the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon at City of Palms Park.
The Red Sox will be sporting their traditional green jerseys and green hats, including starter John Lackey, who coincidentally was on the mound last year on the holiday.
Lackey is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA this spring. He has yet to walk a batter in 10 1/3 innings.
Lefty Jonathon Neise goes for the Mets.
First pitch for this one is set for 1:05 p.m. Keep it here for all the action.
