Papelbon solid in his position

Jon Papelbon is still ticked. Ticked he didn't challenge Sammy Sosa with something high and hard back March 24 in a spring training start in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Ticked he cheated himself by throwing his third-best pitch, his curveball, to Sosa on consecutive pitches after brazenly backing the Orioles slugger off the plate with a fastball up and in during Papelbon's first career game above Single A.

Sosa, to recap, was behind, 1 and 0. Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera had plunked Jay Payton earlier in the game, and, ahead in the count, Papelbon sent a message that Sosa didn't like. The slugger took a step toward the mound.

''In that particular instance, I had to stick up for my team," Papelbon, the 24-year-old Sea Dogs starter, said by phone yesterday. ''Without pitching inside, you can't win. I wasn't scared or anything like that. Really, I just wanted him to get back in the box because I wanted to strike him out. He was jawing in Spanish."

Papelbon then threw a curveball that Sosa bailed on, missing badly. Doug Mirabelli flashed the sign for another curveball and Sosa singled, knocking in a run. Rafael Palmeiro followed with a single, and Papelbon was out after three-plus innings and four runs on five hits.

''I didn't want [to throw a curveball], but, you know, he's a big league catcher, he might have seen something I didn't see," Papelbon said. ''I wasn't going to shake him off. But I really wanted to blow him away with high heat."

That confidence -- which, when filtered through his Southern drawl comes out lacking arrogance -- is why Papelbon, as of yesterday afternoon, was second in the Eastern League in ERA (2.10) and fifth in strikeouts (48) in his first season at Double A. He's given up seven home runs but all have been solo shots.

He allowed one run on one hit in his last start, an eight-inning gem. Double A has seemed easier thanks to those three innings in Ft. Lauderdale, he said.

''It was huge, huge," Papelbon said. ''The biggest thing for me I learned is I had so much adrenaline pumping in me that it was hard for me to control myself for my offspeed pitches. They're a feel pitch, I had no feel. I was able to take that and learn, 'Hey, control the adrenaline. Adrenaline is good but too much of it can hurt you.' "

For Papelbon, a fourth-round pick (114th overall) out of Mississippi State University in 2003, starting is still relatively new. Recruited to college as a first baseman, he was throwing around the infield one day when his MSU pitching coach asked if he wanted to pitch to get more playing time.

''I said, 'Hell yeah,' " Papelbon said. ''That's about all she wrote."

By his sophomore season, he was closing games at Mississippi State. Once drafted by the Sox, the imposing (6-foot-4-inch, 230-pound) righthander was introduced to starting pitching in the summer of 2003 at Lowell.

Last year, his first full season as a starter, Papelbon started 24 games at Single A Sarasota, going 12-7.

''I think starting has enabled me to throw all of my pitches more in a game whereas in a closer situation you're only really able to throw your best pitch and second-best pitch," said Papelbon. ''You're not really progressing as you want to be, or at least how I want to be."

Papelbon has found that with starts -- and good ones -- the wins don't always come. He's 3-2 in nine starts despite pitching at least five innings each time out and compiling that 2.10 ERA.

Papelbon, similarly, isn't worried about when he arrives in the big leagues.

''I just want to have fun, play baseball," he said. ''I'll let the guys in the front office worry about all that good stuff."

A need to be Stern
On March 5, Adam Stern damaged a thumb ligament sliding headfirst into second base attempting to steal. Tuesday, Stern tweaked his hamstring sliding feet-first into second attempting to steal. ''I think second's out of the picture," Stern joked yesterday by phone before sitting out the Pawtucket Red Sox game. All these injuries are rather interesting, given that Stern, a Rule 5 outfielder, must remain on the Sox' major league roster all season or be offered back to Atlanta. ''I'm sure to the outside world it looks like [I'm] trying to be hidden," Stern said. He said he's legitimately injured, but not seriously. ''I think we got it early," he said . . . Sea Dogs second baseman Dustin Pedroia launched two homers in Game 1 of a doubleheader May 29 at Norwich for his first-career multihomer game . . . The PawSox beat Norfolk in 11 innings Wednesday on a Justin Sherrod sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. An interesting sidebar: Norfolk attempted a squeeze bunt in the 10th that failed when PawSox third baseman Dave Berg recorded the out at home plate. The runner cut down at the plate: Brian Daubach. Daubach, 33, went into last night leading the International League in batting (.358).