Marlon Byrd (center) has been the focus of a resurgent Red Sox offense. (AP)

This has been one weird season for Marlon Byrd.

The man who signed for $15 million over three years with the Cubs before the 2010 season was released by Chicago after going collecting just three hits in his first 43 at-bats this season.

The Cubs picked up the remaining $6 million on his contract and the Red Sox, desperately needing a major league outfielder with the injury to Jacoby Ellsbury, picked him up for the pro-rated major league minimum of $435,000.

Low risk, but so far high reward. The batter who was hitting .070 with the Cubs is batting .333 (10-for-30) with the Red Sox to raise his average to .178. He’s been one of the biggest beneficiaries of hitting in a lineup that produced more runs than any in baseball through the first month.

“Boys can play. Went through a rut. Had a great road trip. Came back and started off with a bang,” Byrd said. “Hitting is contagious. It’s as simple as that. I scuffled for a while over there in Chicago but coming over here, watching these guys, picking their brains, talking to [Kevin Youkilis] and little things he does has helped me. Sometimes, you need to re-learn, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan has had a huge impact on Byrd, sitting down with the talented slugger, who made the 2010 NL All-Star team with the Cubs before falling on hard times in the last 18 months.

“See the ball, hit the ball but at the same time, maybe spreading out just a little bit, making sure I get my hands back in my separation, tucking my front knee in so when I do separate, I’m not going back on my backside,” Byrd said in breaking down the mechanics of his swing. “My timing, starting it when pitcher breaks his hands so it’s not one thing. It sounds difficult but for me, it’s easy to put that all together and simply it.”

Byrd was known for his unusual leg tap and kick to trigger his swing. That’s great when it works but a huge problem when it doesn’t. What did Mags suggest?

“Mags is huge,” Byrd said after Monday’s 11-6 Red Sox win, in which he went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. “Mags just said, ‘Forget about everything you’re doing, go back to 2009, 2010, and let’s start over and go from there.’ Forget the tap step, forget the leg kick, get [front foot] down early and go to work. We just went back to the old work.”

The red-hot David Ortiz has also help Byrd by simply hitting in the same lineup.

“It’s unbelievable,” Byrd beamed. “It takes the pressure off a lot of guys when David does his thing. You don’t have to scrounge for runs. You’re not trying to get a bunt down or really try to hit a home run to get an inning going. He gets it going for us. He’s a fire-starter and that’s what he’s doing.”

Byrd had to overcome something else Monday – stepping into the same batter’s box in which he was beaned by now-teammate Alfredo Aceves 12 months ago. For the first time since taking a pitch below the left eye, Byrd had the chance to hit at Fenway, and showed no ill effects.

“You don’t ever want that to happen but it’s part of the game,” Byrd said. “Some guys get hit, some guys don’t. It happened to me. Hopefully, it doesn’t ever happen again.”

Byrd says he couldn’t be happier to have found a new home at Fenway.

“Wonderful, wonderful. I always loved playing here. Usually, I get booed. The only cheers were when I got hit last year and I stood up and actually walked off the field. Other than that, it’s great. I love it. I got to hear “Sweet Caroline” again in a Red Sox uniform and it didn’t feel weird singing it.”

With their fortunes seemingly on the mend after a slow start, the Red Sox will look to continue their recent winning ways as they continue their Midwest road trip with the final game of a four-game series against the White Sox. The game will pit two of the teams’ best pitchers against each other as Josh Beckett takes to the mound for the Red Sox and Gavin Floyd will go for the White Sox.

Josh Beckett

Entering the season with some injury concerns, most notably to his right thumb, Beckett has made four starts this season and has been largely impressive. Beckett began the season with a miserable outing against the Tigers in which he gave up seven earned runs and five home runs in just 4 2/3 innings pitched.

Since then, however, Beckett has gone six innings or more and has not given up more than three earned runs in each of his three other starts, with his most masterful performance of the season coming in a 12-2 win over the Rays on April 13 in which he gave up just one earned run in eight innings. For the season, he is 2-2 with a 4.56 ERA, 16 strikeouts and six walks.

Beckett did not make an appearance against the White Sox in 2011, but he did have two starts against them in 2010. In those games, one of which was at home and the other on the road, Beckett was strong with a 3.65 ERA in 12 1/3 innings pitched with 14 strikeouts and six walks, though he was actually 0-1 in those appearances despite his solid showings. In the one game he pitched at U.S. Cellular Field, the site of Sunday’s game, Beckett struggled, pitching six innings and giving up four earned runs.

Beckett does have some level of experience against the White Sox, having previously faced 11 current players on the White Sox team. Among those 11 players, Beckett has faced four batters more than 10 times. Of those players with double-digit plate appearances, A.J. Pierzynski has had the most success against Beckett with a .333 batting average and eight hits in 26 career plate appearances.

The right-handed Floyd, now in his ninth MLB season, has been an anchor for the White Sox rotation for the past several seasons. Through four starts in 2012, Floyd has continued to be a reliable starter for the White Sox, with a 3.60 ERA and 22 strikeouts despite just a 1-3 record. Among White Sox starters, Floyd has the third-best ERA, as well as the third-most strikeouts and innings pitched.

Floyd faced the Red Sox twice in 2011, with both starts resulting in wins. Not only did Floyd win those games, but he was very impressive doing so, pitching 13 2/3 innings. One of those starts was at U.S. Cellular Field, a game in which Floyd pitched seven innings, giving up only one earned run and striking out six Red Sox batters.

For all of the experience that Beckett has facing the White Sox lineup, Floyd has that much more familiarity with facing the Red Sox. Though they have faced the same number of opposing batters in the past (11), Floyd has gone against eight of those 11 players 10 or more times (as opposed to Beckett’s four). Those 11 Red Sox hitters have largely struggled against Floyd, with a collective 2.09 batting average, but of the players with double-digit plate appearances, David Ortiz has had the most success, with a .318 batting average in 23 plate appearances, with seven hits, three of which were home runs.

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Jon Lester

The Red Sox have historically been a strong team at home, and in their first four home games of the 2012 season they continued that Fenway success, taking three of four games from the Rays. Boston will look to continue that home-field advantage on Tuesday night in the first game of a two-game series against the Rangers.

The task will not be an easy one. The 8-2 Rangers own the best record in the American League, and they arrive at Fenway on the heels of a three-game sweep of the Twins at Target Field. The Red Sox will send out ace Jon Lester in the hopes of slowing down Texas.

Lester is still searching for his first win of the season despite two strong outings. In his last start, a 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays, Lester allowed three earned runs on three hits through eight innings of work, but the Boston lineup only mustered three hits of its own as Lester was the hard-luck loser.

Lester’s only start against the Rangers last season came on Opening Day, and it was not a good showing for the left-hander. The Rangers collected five earned runs on six hits and three home runs through 5 1/3 innings against Lester, and the Red Sox lost, 9-5.

On Tuesday, Lester will be tasked with cooling down Josh Hamilton, who is off to a hot start for the Rangers. Hamilton is second in the AL in hits (16) despite having four fewer at-bats than the league-leading Derek Jeter (17 hits in 45 at-bats). In the Rangers’ three-game sweep of the Twins, Hamilton went 6-for-13 with five runs, two home runs and three RBIs.

The Rangers will counter Lester with Colby Lewis, who will be making his third start of the season. Lewis enters the game off a shutout performance against the Mariners, who tallied five hits, six strikeouts and no runs against Lewis in 6 2/3 innings. The Rangers went on to blow that game, however, allowing three runs to Seattle in the ninth inning for the 4-3 loss.

The Red Sox may be eager to face Lewis after getting the best of the right-hander in his three starts against Boston last season. After earning an April 2 win against Boston last year, Lewis allowed 11 runs in his next two starts to the Red Sox in 9 1/3 innings of work. In his only appearance at Fenway last year, Lewis was yanked after 3 1/3 innings in which the Red Sox tallied four runs on seven hits.

David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez have both played well against Lewis. Ortiz is 5-for-15 with three home runs and five RBIs in his career against Lewis, while Gonzalez bats .857 with two home runs and three RBIs in seven at-bats against the 32-year-old. Read the rest of this entry »

Clay Buchholz

It has been a long offseason for every member of the Red Sox, but Clay Buchholz has had an especially long wait. The 27-year-old right-hander will take the mound Sunday afternoon for the first time since June 16, 2011, when he made his final start of the 2011 season before missing the rest of the year with a back injury.

In the final game of the season’s opening series, Buchholz and the Red Sox will contend with Max Scherzer and the Tigers in a 1 p.m. matinee at Comerica Park.

Buchholz is looking to get off to a better start this season than he did last season, when the Red Sox lost four of his first five starts while Buchholz struggled with a 5.33 ERA and walked more batters (16) than he struck out (15). In Buchholz’s first outing last season, a 5-1 loss to the Rangers, he lasted 6 1/3 innings and gave up four solo home runs.

Buchholz faced the Tigers twice last season. Both of those outings came in May, and although Buchholz pitched well in both games (allowing 10 hits and three earned runs over 13 innings), he did not earn a decision in either game.

Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta has the most success of any of his teammates in his career against Buchholz. Peralta is 4-for-12 with a double and four RBIs against the righthander.

In contrast to Buchholz, Scherzer has struggled in his career against the Red Sox. The 27-year-old righthander is 0-2 in three career starts against Boston, running up a 9.45 ERA in 13 1/3 innings of work. His only outing against the Red Sox last season was a disaster, as Boston touched him up for seven earned runs over two innings in an eventual 14-1 Red Sox win on May 26 at Comerica Park.

The Red Sox game aside, Scherzer will look to get off to a similar start this season as he did last season, when he won his first six games and had a 10-4 record at the All-Star break. Scherzer struggled to sustain his early season form in the second half, as he maintained a 5-5 record with a 4.09 ERA in his final 14 starts.

Scherzer’s experience with the Red Sox lineup is limited, as just four members of the Boston lineup have more than five career plate appearances against him. David Ortiz has just seven plate appearances against Scherzer, but he has been dominant in those at-bats, knocking out two home runs and four RBIs. Scherzer has never retired Jacoby Ellsbury, who has a walk and a home run in two career plate appearances against the right-hander.

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Red Sox DH David Ortiz addressed his team after the Opening Day loss. (AP)

DETROIT — On the one hand, it was a loss. As such, in the grand scheme, it was a bad day at the office for the Red Sox.

At the same time, the 3-2 Opening Day defeat against the Tigers did come with the proverbial silver linings under the circumstances. Jon Lester, though not as dominant as counterpart Justin Verlander, came within a pitch of being just as effective, allowing just one run in seven innings of work. And when the bullpen allowed another run, the Sox remained unbowed.

Against Tigers closer Jose Valverde, the Sox still saw opportunity in the face of a 2-0 deficit. They rallied back to tie the game — coming within no more than a couple feet of a lead had Ryan Sweeney‘s triple high off the fence, just inside the right field foul pole, either been a hair higher or slightly to the left, where it might have snuck through the inexplicable notch just above the 330-foot sign in right for a home run.

Though the Sox’ top-of-the-ninth-inning rally to tie the game, 2-2, was overcome in the bottom of the inning when the Tigers plated a walkoff run against relievers Mark Melancon and Alfredo Aceves, the Sox still viewed the way they played as a promising building block for what lies ahead this season.

“That’s what we do. That’s what the Red Sox do,” said Pedroia. “We’re going to fight until the end. It says a lot about our team and organization.” Read the rest of this entry »

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In relative terms, spring training remains in its infancy. Pitchers and hitters alike are still looking to work their ways into playing shape and so it’s difficult to place too much credence into what is seen in games.

Nonetheless, even this early stage of the spring offers some pieces of the puzzle, even if they don’t reveal the broader picture. Such was the case in the Red Sox’ 7-4 loss to the Pirates at JetBlue Park.

A few takeaways:

– Vicente Padilla, in the mix for the job of the Red Sox’ fifth starter, had a poor outing, allowing four runs on five hits (three doubles), all of which came in his second inning of work. While Padilla featured a fastball in the low-90s and changed speeds on his curveballs, his stuff was simply flat. He did throw 22 of his 29 pitches for strikes, but he didn’t miss many bats; he neither struck out nor walked any hitters.

“He wasn’t executing two-strike pitches,” said manager Bobby Valentine. “I think first time that [Kelly Shoppach] was catching him and I think there was a little quandary where to go when he got ahead of a couple of those hitters. I don’t know that, for my money, his armspeed was what it was last time, the last couple of times. It was pretty good. His location was decent. He was executing early. He just didn’t execute late.”

– David Ortiz offered a promising sign in his second at-bat. He turned on an 88 mph fastball from left-hander Tony Watson and lined it into the visitor’s bullpen. Given how central his success against left-handers was to his huge 2011 season (indeed, it was the best season he’s ever had against southpaws), the fact that he went deep against a southpaw at this early stage of the spring has to be taken as a good sign.

In 2011, Ortiz hit .329 with a .423 OBP, .566 slugging mark and .989 OPS along with eight homers against lefties, and .298 with a .386 OBP, .548 slugging mark, .934 OPS and 21 homers against right-handers.

– Clay Buchholz said that he was pleased with how he felt over the course of his 51-pitch, three-inning effort on Friday night. He focused on working his changeup into the mix, and threw some good ones, including an at-bat in which he doubled up on the pitch to punch out Brandon Boggs. He did leave some fastballs over the plate in allowing two runs on three hits, but overall, Buchholz was pleased with the opportunity to continue to build his pitch count.

– More important signs for the Sox against lefties: Darnell McDonald threatened to end modern telecommunications as we know it with his satellite-menacing blast into geosynchronous orbit of a fastball by Pirates lefty Doug Slaten. McDonald’s roster value derives in no small part from his ability to do damage against southpaws, something that he was unable to do in the first half of last year but then did with underappreciated effectiveness in the second half.

McDonald hit .260 with a .333 OBP, .471 slugging mark and .804 OPS against lefties last year. Five of his six homers were against southpaws.

McDonald also doubled in the ninth inning against a right-hander.

“I said, ‘You’re going to get two at-bats not one. Make the best of them.’ Geez, he sure did,” said Valentine. “Those were two loud sounds. It shouldn’t go unnoticed. He’s a guy that, at times, is going to come off the bench. He’s a guy who’s fighting for a job. Thus far in this spring, he’s made the best of his opportunities to play good baseball.”

– It’s early and almost all statistics at this point are irrelevant. That said, Cody Ross has hit the ground running. He is now 4-for-9 in Grapefruit League games, while his primary competition for right field, Ryan Sweeney, is 0-for-8. Ross also stole one base but was cut down on another attempted steal.

– It is easy to forget at times that there are spots to be won in the Red Sox bullpen. Michael Bowden evidently has not forgotten. The right-hander has looked sharp out of the chute, retiring all eight batters he’s faced (and all 14 if one includes the six-up, six-down, three-strikeout race through the Northeastern lineup).

– Former Red Sox infielder Yamaico Navarro had three electrifying swings and misses in punching out against reliever Will Inman. Navarro’s strikeout came with the abandon of one who believed that the only acceptable outcomes against his former team were either a home run or a strained oblique.

Navarro, now 24, was traded by the Sox to the Royals last July in the deal that netted the Sox Mike Aviles. Kansas City subsequently flipped Navarro to Pittsburgh.

The praise began to pour in on Tuesday for Red Sox captain Jason Varitek, who will retire on Thursday in Fort Myers. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With the news spreading of the retirement of Red Sox captain Jason Varitek on Thursday, the players he leaves behind in the clubhouse began to react on Tuesday.

Clay Buchholz:
“It was awesome being a part getting to play four seasons with him and being able to throw to a guy that everybody is going to remember as the captain of the Boston Red Sox. It was a good time for everybody. I hope his decision makes him and his family happy and they go with their lives and know that he was one of the greatest guys ever behind the plate.”

What he learned from Varitek:
“How to pitch. He’s a guy that you know when you’re on the mound and you shake him off and he sort of just stares at you, you’re like, ‘OK, I won’t throw that pitch. Don’t worry about it.’ Especially being a young guy coming up and you’re already intimated by just pitching in front of 40,000 people at Fenway and then you have Jason Varitek catching you.

“How to slow the game down, how to pitch to certain guys, how to get out of situations. He was a vocal part of my learning experience in baseball.

What he remembers about Varitek calling the no-hitter of Sept. 2, 2007 vs. Orioles:
“A couple of times, early in the game, I shook him off a couple of times and had a couple of missiles hit and they were caught but after that, it was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to throw what he puts down.’ The game started to speed up on me a couple of times. I remember him calling timeout, running out there and telling me to take a couple of deep breaths and throw a pitch wherever, down and away, get a ground ball and get out of an inning. That’s what I’ll always remember about him, he was always the guy that could always calm you down when he things were starting to speed up.”

Did he expect Varitek to show in camp?:
“He’s an animal. You see how every year he comes into spring training, what he looks like, how his body is a specimen. I was expecting Tek to play until he was 60. He was awesome behind [the plate] and still think he could be awesome behind the plate and have a job in baseball but that was his and his family’s decision.”

Jarrod Saltalamacchia:
“He meant a lot obviously. He helped me out a lot last year. The year before, he was trying to recover from injury so we didn’t get to spend a lot of on-field time together but still picking his brain a lot. But last year, [he] was a huge, huge help for getting my career back on track. And just the person he is, you can’t find a better person.

“Just the way he went about his business, watching him. Wasn’t even in the clubhouse, but I could just see from across the field how people looked at him, how people respected him. You definitely look up to a guy like that.”

What Varitek did for helping him lead the Red Sox pitching staff:
“I was definitely a little hesitant. I didn’t know how to act towards the pitchers. I always kind of looked toward him, ‘Get this meeting started, get this started.’ But he did an unbelievable job of letting those guys where I stood and where he stood. It was kind of overwhelming. I didn’t expect that, didn’t expect him to be so helpful and [tell me], ‘Hey man, this is your team.’ I said, ‘You’re the captain, it’s your team.’

“That’s the kind of person he is. He always wanted to make me feel comfortable. He always wanted to make me feel comfortable. He always wanted to help me out, stuck up for me and I can’t thank him enough for jump-starting my career.” Read the rest of this entry »