No infield dirt around third base

But that ’04 season also raised questions.

“I’ve been clean all my career,’’ Beltre said when asked about performance-enhancing drugs. “I’m proud of that. If I did it in ’04 when the drug test was already in place, why didn’t I do it again ’cause I didn’t get caught?

“People [are] going to talk. They have reason to. I hit 48, they’re entitled to. I understand that. I know people are going to speculate stuff. I don’t blame anybody for that.’’

It was a season in which everything clicked, everything went right. He started quickly (.353 in April), something that has rarely happened for him. And then he went to Seattle, a park that is hardly kind to hitters.

“That other ballpark is a bear, for everyone, but for him in particular,’’ Ibanez said. “He hits a lot of long drives to that big part of the field, left-center, even to left field that are outs. In Seattle, they’re outs.’’

In Fenway? Maybe not.

What-if game

But what if he does start slowly again? What if he bottoms out in April, his bat sluggish and his offense nonexistent? What if Lowell remains with the team, a looming presence on the bench?

Beltre’s honesty, when asked whether he could end up looking over his shoulder, is refreshing.

“I don’t know,’’ he said. “It’s a good question. But it can happen.’’

He added, “If I start slow and then [Francona] decides to put in Mike, what am I going to do? I’m not hitting. If he’s there playing third, physically I lost the job. It’s not like they’re giving it out.

“This is baseball. It’s going to happen. I’ve been in the situation before.’’

His disappointing 2009 season (8 HRs, 44 RBIs in 111 games) he attributes to shoulder surgery that didn’t actually fix what it was designed to fix. And that certainly could lead to doubts. Especially with Lowell behind him.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect him one bit because he’s so confident in his ability,’’ Bogar said. “He wants to succeed. The bottom line is he knows that it’s not going to happen overnight if he’s going bad. He’s going to figure it out and he’s going to come around.’’

And even with Lowell’s presence, Beltre signed here. He knows why he did, why he opened himself and Lowell to the queries and the controversy. Because it was different with Seattle, where they were “hoping to get to the playoffs,’’ Beltre said. “Hoping. Here, it’s different because you don’t hope. Playoffs is a failure. World Series is the main goal.

“I have accomplished a lot in my career, more than I expected when I came up to the big leagues. I’ve been in the big leagues for 11 years, and so far I’ve had good seasons, I’ve had some disappointing seasons. But, in the end, I want to say that I won a championship.’’