Evening Red Sox News From the Fort – 3/17

Boston Red Sox base runner Jacoby Ellsbury(notes), left, scores on a two-run single by teammate Carl Crawford(notes) as New York Mets catcher Josh Thole(notes), right, reaches for the ball in the third inning of a spring training baseball game on St. Patrick's Day in Fort Myers, Fla., Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Boston Red Sox donned the green uniforms for St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday and they provided them a little luck in the 8-5 win over the New York Mets at City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, FL. But the big story of the day wasn’t the announcement of the rest of the rotation but rather the fact that Jonathan Papelbon struggled once again on the mound.

Papelbon pitched the 9th inning of the game and hit the first batter he faced in Dusty Ryan. He then was able to retire Chin-lung Hu and Luis Hernandez before he issued walks to Daniel Murphy and Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Justin Turner then hit a bases-clearing double and was promptly brought in on a Jason Pridie double that chased Paps from the game.

Luckily for Paps, Eammon Portice bailed him out and only needed one pitch to retire Lucas Duda to pick up the save.

Papelbon said after the game that he isn’t worried but you can bet your bottom dollar that he’ll be the talk of the Boston airwaves tomorrow morning if he already wasn’t on Thrusday night.

John Lackey, who was named the No. 2 starter earlier in the day, threw the ball well in his 5 1/3 innings of work. He allowed one run on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Rich Hill allowed a hit in 2/3 of an inning. Scott Atchison followed Hill with a perfect inning and Daniel Bard allowed a hit and a walk in his inning of work.

Carl Crawford and Jed Lowrie led the offense with two hits and two RBIs each. Crawford added a stolen base to the cause as well. Drew Sutton went 2-for-4 which included a 2-run homer in the 8th inning. Daniel Nava added a hit and a stolen base while Jacoby Ellsbury also had a hit as well. Tough day though for Mike Cameron who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

The Red Sox will play their final split-squad doubleheader of the spring on Friday afternoon when they’ll host the Detroit Tigers at City of Palms Park at 1:05 p.m. The other split-squad will head to Port Charlotte to take on the Tampa Bay Rays at 7:05 p.m. Clay Buchholz will start for the Red Sox against the Tigers while Tim Wakefield gets the ball against the Rays.

According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, Red Sox notables playing in Port Charlotte will be Crawford, Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, Jed Lowrie and Nava along with Wake.

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Beckett weighs in on rotation [Clubhouse Insider]

Papelbon struggles … does it matter? [Clubhouse Insider]

Write your own caption: Belichick yucks it up with Pedroia, Tito [Clubhouse Insider]

Papelbon unworried about latest spring struggle [CSNNE.com]

Varitek on rotation, and Varitek [ESPN Boston]

Beckett: ‘It’s Tito’s call’ [ESPN Boston]

Lackey to be No. 2 starter [ESPN Boston]

Perils of Paps, spring-training edition [ESPN Boston]

Is there a developing Papelbon problem? [Extra Bases]

Josh Beckett Heaps Praise on Jon Lester for ‘Sacred’ Opening Day Nod [NESN.com]