--SS Jed Lowrie has been slow out of the gate this season for the Red Sox after tearing up the Grapefruit League. The 24-year-old is in his first full big-league season in Boston, and has already stepped up to the plate in multiple key situations during the season's first four games. The switch-hitting Lowrie has batted left-handed in all those key spots -- after hitting .222 from the left side while playing with a non-displaced fracture in his right wrist last summer -- but remains upbeat that things will even out after a 1-for-15 stretch with seven strikeouts to start the year. "I might have been trying a little too hard instead of just letting it happen," he said. "But that's something that the more you get into the grind, I think that feeling will kind of wear off. You do get a little heightened sense during opening day. I need to get into the flow of the season."

--C George Kottaras started his first game of the 2009 season behind the plate catching knuckleballs from RHP Tim Wakefield after spending the last few weeks of spring training getting comfortable chasing the dancing pitch. Sox manager Terry Francona called it a "good test for" Kottaras prior to Friday night's game against an aggressive base running team in the LA Angels of Anaheim, but the left-handed hitting rookie backstop acquitted himself well. The 25-year-old went 1-for-3 in his season debut, but the Angels also ran wild a little bit with four stolen bases while Kottaras was behind the plate.

--RHP Brad Penny was scheduled to make his first start as a member of the Red Sox Saturday afternoon, and Sox manager Terry Francona indicated that the 29-year-old righty would have a pitch count of roughly 85 pitches. Penny got a late start during the spring after he was briefly shut down with weakness in his right shoulder, but he hit as high as 96-mph on the radar gun during spring training. Penny has raved about the shoulder program put together by Sox assistant trainer Mike Reinold and told reporters that his shoulder feels better than it did at any point with the Dodgers last season.

--1B Kevin Youkilis went 2-for-4 and collected his fourth consecutive multi-hit game in Friday night's loss to the Angels in Anaheim. Youkilis is hitting a torrid .625 through Boston's first four games of the season, and is the first Sox player to do that in the first four games of a season since both Mike Stanley and Jose Offerman did it in Boston back during the 1999 season. Youkilis has fit right into the cleanup spot in Boston's lineup again this season after sliding in there following the Manny Ramirez trade last season.

MEDICAL WATCH:

SS Julio Lugo (arthroscopic right knee surgery in March 2009) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27. He is expected to miss the first two weeks of the regular season.

OF Mark Kotsay (back surgery in January 2009) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27. He hopes to return in May.

RHP John Smoltz (right shoulder surgery in June 2008) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27. He threw 40 fastballs during his first bullpen session in late March and is expected to pitch for the Red Sox in June barring any setbacks.

OF Jonathan Van Every (sprained right ankle) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27.

RHP Miguel Gonzalez (sore right elbow) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27.

ROTATION:

1. RHP Josh Beckett

2. LHP Jon Lester

3. RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka

4. RHP Tim Wakefield

5. RHP Brad Penny

BULLPEN:

RHP Jonathan Papelbon (closer)

LHP Hideki Okajima

RHP Ramon Ramirez

RHP Manny Delcarmen

RHP Takashi Saito

LHP Javier Lopez

RHP Justin Masterson

LINEUP:

1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury

2. 2B Dustin Pedroia

3. DH David Ortiz

4. 1B Kevin Youkilis

5. OF Jason Bay

6. 3B Mike Lowell

7. OF J.D. Drew

8. SS Jed Lowrie

9. C Jason Varitek

RESERVES:

C George Kottaras

OF Rocco Baldelli

SS Nick Green

1B/OF Chris Carter