--SS Julio Lugo and OF Mark Kotsay both took part in extended spring training games in Fort Myers on Friday afternoon. Lugo played three innings at shortstop while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and Kotsay had two at bats as the designated hitter. "We talked to (Special Assistant to the GM) Craig Shipley, who was there, and (he) said everything went pretty well and there was no incident," said Francona. "Lugo ran the bases a couple of times and scored on an extra-base hit. Kotsay lined out to pretty deep center field."
--OF Jacoby Ellsbury has passed former OF Coco Crisp for the most consecutive errorless chances by a Red Sox outfielder with 431 straight chances without any miscues. Ellsbury doesn't have an error in 182 career games while patrolling the outfield for the Sox, which is also a club record. The Sox second-year centerfielder is still chasing former Sox OF Darren Lewis, who holds the major league records for consecutive errorless games (392) and consecutive chances without making an error in the outfield (938) from 1991-1994. --Manager Terry Francona expressed some level of helplessness and frustration at the World Baseball Classic after pulling RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka from Tuesday night's game and placing him on the disabled list Wednesday. Team Japan won the tournament and -- for the second straight time -- Matsuzaka was named MVP of the global baseball tourney, but it appeared to Francona that the Red Sox are paying a price for their pitcher's participation. "You are (helpless)," Francona said during an interview with WEEI-850 on Wednesday morning. "Again, we're supposed to be supportive of the WBC, and understand they're trying to make it work so they need to have a commitment from Major League Baseball. But,on the other hand, when you're sitting there, you know, we're 2-6 the first week, we're having a real tough week, and we're starting to lose pitchers. It's frustrating. We're the ones who are going to have to bear this, and that's not easy to do. We've got a guy that won 18 games last year, and we have a way of preparing him for a long season that certainly doesn't coincide with the way they do it in the WBC."
BY THE NUMBERS: 39 -- Pitches that RHP Jonathan Papelbon needed to close out the Angels in an epic 5-4 win on April 11. It was the most pitches that the Sox closer has thrown in a game since 2006.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We had some guys scuffling, and that's the beauty of the offense the four or five months that I've been here. We're not banking on one or two guys. We've got a good balance throughout there." -- OF Jason Bay on Boston's offensive mentality this season.
