--DH David Ortiz hasn't hit a home run in the first 15 games of the season, which marks the longest homer-less drought to begin a Sox season for the burly slugger. Ortiz has shown signs of busting out offensively over the last few days, however, and isn't dwelling on the early-season power outage just yet. "The hitting my first homer thing, I don't want to let it get in my head because it just makes it worse, you know?" Ortiz told the Boston Globe. "One's going to come, then the next one, then the next. Next thing you know you're right there with everybody.
"That's something that you can't really control. You just got to keep on playing and swinging. Let things happen. You guys might think us as a player has control over it, and we don't. We really don't. That's how it goes." --RHP Brad Penny improved to 22-7 (.759 winning percentage) in 45 April starts with Wednesday night's victory. Since 1954, only three pitchers with 25 or more decisions during the month of April have higher winning percentages than Penny: Pedro Martinez (35-8, .814), Geoff Zahn (26-7, .788) and Dave McNally (30-9, .769).
--Manager Terry Francona turned 50 years old Wednesday amid the day/night doubleheader against the Twins, and he really didn't seem to want to have it any other way. For a baseball lifer like Francona, birthday plans take a back seat to arriving at the park early in the morning for a game day and going through his normal routine at the Fens. "We had a night game scheduled," he said. "I would have been in here at 10:30 (a.m.). I'd have kicked (Dustin Pedroia's rear) in cribbage. Then, just play the Twins. All the days are the same."
BY THE NUMBERS: 3 -- Pickoffs that LHP Jon Lester had in his first three starts this season. He credits bench coach Brad Mills with calling the successful pickoff plays from the bench.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Everybody has to answer to somebody and my bosses told me this was the best thing for the ballclub. If it was up to me I would have seen let's go through with this whole thing because I don't think I deserve even one game. But when your boss tells you something is best for the whole group that's what we do." -- RHP Josh Beckett discussing the decision-making process in agreeing to drop his appeal when his suspension was dropped from six games to five.
