--2B Dustin Pedroia was presented with his 2008 Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards prior to Thursday afternoon's game. Former Sox OF Dwight Evans, who won both awards back in 1981 for the Red Sox, took part in the pregame ceremony at Fenway Park. OF Ellis Burks (1990) and C Jason Varitek (2005) also won both awards during the same season for Boston.
--OF Brad Wilkerson, who left the Red Sox late in spring training to consider other options when it became clear he wasn't going to be on Boston's opening-day roster, is on the Pawtucket roster and will be in uniform for the Class AAA team's first game of the season Friday in Buffalo. In 42 at-bats with the Sox this spring, Wilkerson managed just five hits, struck out 18 times and struggled to get anything going offensively. --DH David Ortiz announced he'll run the "Papi Cares 2009" charity for the entire 2009 baseball season, a ticket program that will provide trips to Fenway Park for families facing difficult financial times. One family will be chosen for each game and hosted by Ortiz at Fenway Park. "We're just trying to build up something the way that those families can still come to the field and have fun and be part of the family," Ortiz said. "This is a baseball game, it's a family game. We need to try to keep it that way."
BY THE NUMBERS: 13 -- Extra-base hits slammed by SS Jed Lowrie during 67 spring training at-bats.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "You get kind of caught up, especially in the first two weeks, when everything's overanalyzed, everything's overblown, over-magnified. That's what we just reminded the players. Just try to have good players trying to do the right thing and then, as you get into the grind of the season, if you're as good as you think you are, it'll show." -- Red Sox manager Terry Francona on his mind-set at the beginning of the season.
