Notes: Foulke sets sights on opener

03/10/2006
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- After firing 43 pitches on the back field on Friday morning and facing live hitters for the first time this spring, Red Sox closer Keith Foulke threw caution to the Florida palm trees and declared himself ready to start the 2006 season on time.
"I will be ready Opening Day," said Foulke, who threw to three Minor League hitters. "There's no doubt in my mind. I'm stronger now than I have been in four years. April 3, that's a lifetime away."
Which means that Foulke, even though he's yet to throw in an exhibition game, views that as no type of sign that he won't be ready to answer the bell when the Red Sox open their season in Texas against the Rangers.
"I believe him. I have a lot of faith in Foulkey," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona.
How many exhibition games would Foulke need to pitch in to be ready for regular-season action?
"One," said Foulke. "If I had to start the season tomorrow, I'd be fine with that."
Naturally, the Red Sox would like to see Foulke -- who had surgery on both knees last year -- get a little more game work than that.
"We have three weeks left," said Francona. "He's certainly not going to throw one inning and then start the season. But we'll get him in games when he and [pitching coach Al Nipper] feel he's ready to do that in a positive way."
The fact that Foulke is so encouraged by his health has to be considered a good sign.
"I feel better now than I did at any point last year," said Foulke. "I can bend down and pick up my [young son] without grimacing or having pain."
As a final piece of maintenance to repairing his health, Foulke has been on a set schedule for getting shots of a joint lubricant called Synvisc in his knees.
"I've got one more in the right and two in the left. And then we're done for a period of time," said Foulke, who said he has been responding fine to the shots.
Interestingly, Foulke, who has mostly been a fastball-changeup pitcher during his career, is planning on using a four-pitch arsenal this season. All four of them were on display during his session of batting practice.
"Fastball, changeup, slider, splitter," said Foulke. "Those will be the four pitches I'll throw during the season. Being able to get in the proper position this year, that split-finger [fastball] is going to be a big pitch for me. It's going to be a pitch that I can throw down in the zone."
Wakefield and Bard click: Josh Bard, vying to become Boston's backup catcher in wake of John Flaherty's retirement, did his best Doug Mirabelli impersonation while catching knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in Friday's 9-4 win over the Phillies.
Considering this was the first time he caught Wakefield in a game, Bard looked remarkably comfortable.
"I felt like it went good," Bard said. "Every day is going to be a learning experience. Every pitch is going to be a learning experience. I felt today went well, but there's a lot to work on and try to get better every day. I'm playing catch with him every day. Each time I catch him in the bullpen, you see something you've never seen before.
"You've just got to keep working and keep after it. There's going to be some days when you miss it and there's going to be some days where it might not feel as nasty. The biggest thing is you've got to concentrate every pitch, because I think sometimes he can kind of lull you to sleep and you feel pretty confident. You catch a couple, and he'll just throw a stinking yo-yo and make you look silly."
Wakefield was definitely in top form from a pitching standpoint, allowing two hits and no runs over four innings.
"I felt good," Wakefield said. "I got some work in and got my pitch count up a little higher than I did last time. I think Josh Bard did a great job back there."
Murphy rediscovers stroke: Outfielder David Murphy, who had just one hit in his first 11 at-bats entering Friday's contest, broke out by belting two homers and driving in five.
"I just kind of forced myself to relax today," Murphy said. "I've been very tense up at the plate. Just being up here is such a thrill. Obviously it's Spring Training, and everybody is just trying to get their at-bats in and trying to get their timing down. Things worked out today. But there's more spring left. I'm just trying to prepare for the season."
Murphy, a first-round draft pick by the Red Sox in 2003, is likely to start the season at Triple-A Pawtucket.
More travel woes: A day after the Red Sox got to Vero Beach just 75 minutes before the first pitch because of a bus breakdown, their opponent was late this time. The Phillies got stuck on I-75 for a couple of hours thanks to an oil spill.
The game started 90 minutes late.

Source: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/