‘Dice’ is finally rolled out there

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox held what amounted to a staff meeting on the practice field adjacent to City of Palms Park before yesterday’s game against the Mets. General manager Theo Epstein, manager Terry Francona, and pitching coach John Farrell were there, along with Epstein lieutenants Ben Cherington and Allard Baird. The attraction was the long-anticipated and delayed first batting practice session thrown by Daisuke Matsuzaka.
The righthander survived, throwing 54 pitches to Aaron Bates, Tug Hulett, and Angel Sanchez. There was no sign of the back and neck pain that put Matsuzaka three weeks behind the other starters.
The plan now is for Matsuzaka to throw in the bullpen tomorrow and work two innings of a minor league game Sunday. His first actual game of the spring would follow.
“No restrictions, no hesitation, he feels good about himself,’’ Farrell said. “How he feels about himself is a huge component at this point, and all those are positive signs.
“We don’t want to skip any steps along the way here. We want to be sure that he has ample time, and we provide him ample time, to build a foundation that’s going to endure an entire season.’’
Matsuzaka struggled with his command out of the windup, giving up some loud hits. His only swing-and-miss came out of the stretch as he slowly gained control of his pitches.
“I think I had good life on my fastball and I also felt I had good break and good command on my breaking ball, although there is some work to be done there,’’ Matsuzaka said via interpreter Masa Hoshino. “I didn’t pitch inside, but that is something I’ll work [on] as I start pitching in games.’’
While a significant step was taken, Matsuzaka remains likely to open the season on the disabled list.
“Really, the only way to go from here is forward,’’ he said. “I’m not going to spend too much time looking over my shoulder. I gradually feel I can get over these frustrations as I move forward.’’
Apparently the illness that hit Jed Lowrie like a truck, as Francona had described it, was mononucleosis. The infielder was at the park yesterday, though he was not around the clubhouse during media availability. “He can play as tolerated,’’ Francona said. “There was a reason he was feeling run down last week. He was on the bike yesterday. I don’t think he’s going to feel like he has a ton of energy for the next week or two, but he can do physical things as tolerated. So we’ll monitor him. I don’t think we want him kissing anybody.’’ There’s no timeline as to when Lowrie will get in a game . . . There were other injury updates. Gil Velazquez slid into first base in Tuesday’s game against the Astros, jamming his thumb. He was scheduled to see doctors yesterday. Jacoby Ellsbury has been battling throat soreness, so he had yesterday off and saw the doctor. He will have today off — as will the rest of the team — then will work out tomorrow, and get back into a game Saturday.
John Lackey said after yesterday’s start, “I’ve thrown the ball pretty well. But, honestly, I’d probably like to maybe give up a couple runs. Don’t want to bring them all north with me.’’ Lackey has yet to allow a run or a walk in three starts, covering nine innings. He has allowed five hits and has struck out three. “I feel pretty good,’’ said Lackey, who pitched four innings of a 4-2 loss to the Mets. “I feel like my delivery’s on time, location is pretty good. Arm strength isn’t quite there yet, but working on it.’’ The most notable part of Lackey’s pitching so far has been his efficiency. Yesterday, he threw just 39 pitches (28 strikes) in his four innings, and worked very quickly. (In fact, he again threw 10 extra pitches in the bullpen.) He doesn’t issue many walks in general, but he’s especially loathe to issue them in spring training. “If I get to three balls, most of the time I’ll just throw it in there,’’ he said. “First-pitch strikes, that was fun to watch,’’ Francona said. “Let them put it in play. Threw his breaking ball for strikes, threw everything for strikes, down in the zone. Let our defense work. There’s not much not to like.’’
The Sox optioned lefthanded pitcher Dustin Richardson to Triple A. He was already scheduled to pitch in a minor league game today. “He’s an interesting guy,’’ Francona said. “He’s lefthanded, he’s very athletic, good pitcher’s body. He needs innings, he needs reps, he needs to pound the strike zone. We told him that. He’s a young kid that’s got some finish on a fastball. He can throw it in the zone and get hitters out. But consistency’s going to be a big deal. You can’t go 3-and-2 on hitters and not pay a price.’’ . . . While Francona isn’t sure he’s had enough time to form an opinion on Bill Hall as a shortstop, it’s clear the Sox are going to do their best to find out if he can play there. “He’s a big kid, a big, strong kid,’’ Francona said. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we could certainly put him there. If Marco [Scutaro] were out for two weeks, I don’t know if that’s the case. We just don’t know. But it’s nice to know that he can go over there if something happens in a game, play the odd game if you need to.’’
Mike Lowell will go over to the minor league complex tomorrow and DH for about five or six innings to get at-bats. He will play third base for the first time this spring Sunday . . . Josh Beckett threw a bullpen session yesterday and is set to pitch tomorrow after skipping his last start because of illness . . . Clay Buchholz, Fabio Castro, and Ramon A. Ramirez are scheduled to throw in a minor league game today . . . It’s rare that a runner makes it out of a pickle, but Josh Reddick did just that yesterday. Caught between second and third after a Dustin Pedroia single in the third inning, Reddick made it back to second base when the ball was held. “I was wondering why he didn’t throw it,’’ Reddick said. “I saw him put it back in his glove, so I just took off. It worked out. First time I’ve done that in a long time, beat one out.’’ Reddick didn’t get out completely unscathed, though, getting kneed in the shoulder blade as he went back into second. The outfielder had ice on the shoulder after the game, but didn’t sound concerned about it.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @peteabe.