Not bad at all for first try

Suffice to say, this hasn’t been an easy spring training for Lowell.

Consider all he’s had to go through: trying to get healthy with his hip and thumb, and trying to learn first base, which is difficult psychologically since he has been a Gold Glove third baseman and probably hates the idea of playing more first than third.

On top of that, he’s 36 and auditioning for a job.

Lowell still can hit, but the scouts who attended yesterday’s game want to see how he moves and whether he’s in pain. The consensus was unanimous — he looked mobile enough, but slow on the base paths. If he continues to show mobility, the Red Sox should have no problem making a deal for him, provided, as a National League scout said, “they pick up the majority of the contract.’’

There’s no reason to believe the Sox wouldn’t. They were willing to eat $9 million of the $12 million deal with the Rangers until Texas nixed the deal for catcher/DH Max Ramirez when it discovered the ligament tear in Lowell’s right thumb.

Lowell showed no ill effects from surgery to his thumb. He singled to right in his first at-bat, flew out in his second, and left after three innings. He also made two putouts at first.

“He looked good,’’ said occasional first baseman David Ortiz.

Lowell has spent his last five spring trainings at City of Palms Park. Now it’s become his temporary holding area, a place to perform and audition, if you will, until the next suitor comes along. His next showcase comes tonight in Port Charlotte, Fla., pending his condition.

It can’t feel good for Lowell, who has been a great performer for a team that took him as a “throw in’’ to get Josh Beckett, despite his big contract. Well, in the process of taking on a big contract the Sox got a big-time performer, a man who had the biggest hits at the biggest moments — he was the World Series MVP in 2007 — and who has one of the biggest hearts you’ll ever see.