FORT MYERS, Fla. — With Jacoby Ellsbury getting the day off, Marco Scutaro manned the leadoff spot for the Red Sox Monday against the Cardinals at City of Palms Park.

It is familiar territory for the shortstop thanks to his time in the Blue Jays’ lineup’s top spot for the past 1 1/2 seasons. But before Cito Gaston took over as manager of the Jays, Scutaro’s life as a leadoff man was extremely limited.

“I can remember doing it once when I was with Oakland,” Scutaro said prior to Monday afternoon’s game.

Scutaro’s ascension into the lineup’s top spot began when Gaston took over the Jays on June 20, 2008, with one of the manager’s first act becoming installing the shortstop at leadoff.

“I guess they didn’t have any leadoff guys, and he saw me take some pitches and stuff and said, ‘You can do it.’ In the minors I was more in the second spot,” Scutaro explained. “I liked it. I had not complaints.”

But while Scutaro did indeed have a propensity to take pitches — averaging 4.06 pitches per plate appearance — Gaston didn’t mandate that he watch a flurry of pitches go by before swinging the bat.

“The thing was that Cito’s approach was one that he didn’t like you take pitches. He just said to look for your pitch and swing at your pitch,” said Scutaro, who hit .220 (13-for-59) when putting the first pitch in play last season. “That’s pretty much what I did. He loved first-pitch hitting.”

Another interesting note from the construct of the Red Sox’ Monday lineup was Billy Hall’s presence in left field. Hall played 22 games in left field last season, but prior to spring training of ’07 he had never played a single game in the outfield … ever. Not Little League, high school, or any other level.

Yeah