Youkilis weighs in on A-Rod

But amidst all the normal spring training questions - the state of the Sox, his teammates, the offense - Youkilis spent quite a bit of time yesterday addressing something much less rosy for baseball: Alex Rodriguez and steroids.

"It's an unfortunate thing to hear that," Youkilis said. "It's also a good thing that he came out and admitted it.

"Sometimes it's hard to go out there and admit to something in your past. There's a lot of people in this world who have done something wrong. Myself, I've done things wrong - not in that nature. But it's tough. I think it's tough for people in general in life to admit to some of the things they've done wrong."

His message went beyond that, directed squarely at the fans: "I've never done anything like that in my life and I plan on never doing it. I've had a lot of success in my life just going about it the right way and doing the right things, with the protein shakes and all the other things that are legal.

"I want the fans really to know that not everyone does it."

Beyond that, Youkilis said he was surprised about the Rodriguez report, calling the situation both unfair and strange, since the names of the players who tested positive were supposed to be anonymous.

"I don't know if somebody had it in for him," said the former Red Sox player representative. "It seems like just to take one name out of that group [of 104] is a little odd."

But even with the admissions and the negative press and the blow to baseball, the Sox will still have to face Rodriguez on the field. And they will do so with a lineup that looks different than it did last spring. Back then, before the fraying relationship between Ramírez and the Sox finally broke, he and Ortiz had anchored the Sox lineup for years.

No more. And the Sox will have to hope that the offense that buoyed them after July 31 last season will be able to replicate that.