BALTIMORE - Professor Terry Francona presided over his Advanced Lineup Management system last night. At the center of it was none other than newcomer Victor Martinez.
He began his Red Sox career by playing first base, where he made a nice play, and batting third, going 1 for 5 with an RBI and a run in a 4-0 win.
But Martinez won’t always be wearing a first baseman’s mitt. Today, in fact, he will make his Sox catching debut with Clay Buchholz on the mound.
With that will come a new lineup. Each day there will be new issues for Francona, such as who sits and when and for how long with this roster heavy with first basemen. Every day we will wonder, where’s Victor?
But first things first. Martinez had to shake the jitters out of his body in Day 1 as a member of the Red Sox after spending his entire career with the Indians.
Martinez said he won’t feel nervous catching. Not nearly as nervous as he felt putting on a Sox uniform for the first time.
“It wasn’t a normal game for me,’’ said Martinez. “At the beginning I felt like I was making my major league debut. I was kind of nervous, but as the game went on, I got more comfortable. It felt really nice my first at-bat, the fans cheering for me. It felt great.’’
Martinez looked beat after the game. He sat in his chair with his full uniform on watching the end of a 4-3 extra-inning loss by the his old team to Detroit. He got a glimpse of what it is going to be like in Red Sox Nation, where even a road game is almost a home game, with fans cheering the opposing team. What?
“I have no words to explain that,’’ Martinez said. “It felt great.’’
In the first, following Dustin Pedroia’s homer, Martinez struck out swinging. In the third, he grounded to second. In the fifth, he popped to short. He finally did something in the sixth, knocking home Jacoby Ellsbury with a single to left.
“It felt good to get that first hit. I’m glad I got that out of the way,’’ he said.
Martinez is off and running in his multitask role. He will likely play all the time - a little first, a little catcher, a little DH - but that means someone has to sit. The Sox hope this falls under the category of a “good problem to have.’’
Third baseman Mike Lowell, who sat last night, is likely going to see diminished playing time. One American League general manager said that for Jason Varitek the acquisition of Martinez “could be the beginning of the end. I would think they’d wean him down to three or four games a week.’’
The Sox settled one issue by placing George Kottaras on the disabled list with a sore lower back (wink, wink). The guess here is they’ll bring him back when the rosters expand in September so he’ll continue to catch Tim Wakefield.
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