For starters, Kim gets warm Fenway reception

The last time Byung Hyun Kim started at Fenway Park, he could have dropped his unorthodox delivery a bit lower and thrown slow-pitch softball style to the Florida Marlins, who absorbed a 25-8 shellacking last June 27. Kim, who allowed seven hits and five runs (one earned) in five innings, didn't have to be terribly sharp to get the "W" in that game, in which the Red Sox scored 14 times in the first inning.

But there was little margin for error yesterday in Kim's first appearance of the season because Tampa Bay starter Victor Zambrano matched Kim pitch for pitch in Game 1 of the clubs' doubleheader, won by the Red Sox, 4-0.

Zambrano took the loss despite setting a career high with 10 strikeouts over six innings.

David Ortiz's two-run homer into the center-field bleachers with two outs in the fifth inning made a winner out of Kim, who had just finished a three-game rehab stint strengthening a right shoulder strain suffered just two weeks into spring training. He was activated yesterday and if anyone was feeling under the weather, it had to be the Devil Rays, who were anemic against Kim, as well as Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin, and Alan Embree.

"Now it's kind of a wait and see how he responds physically," said pitching coach Dave Wallace. "He was pretty efficient, 70 pitches, five innings. The last time out he threw four innings, 60 pitches, and that was at Triple A. So you still wonder, do you pitch him a little beyond that? And it was nice to see him do that."

Kim allowed just one hit, a single by Tino Martinez in the second inning that actually turned into the first out when the ball grazed base runner Jose Cruz Jr. Kim struck out two batters and walked one. The reaction of the fans was a far cry from last year's player introductions during the American League Division Series against Oakland when Kim was booed and responded with a single-digit salute. He was left off the roster for the American League Championship Series against the Yankees.

Asked if his warmer reception yesterday was gratifying, Kim flashed a smile.

"Maybe the fans who don't like me didn't show up, maybe they are coming to tonight's game," he joked through an interpreter. "This is just one start. I need to really focus on each start and have a good outing. I worry about a good start rather than how the fans are going to react. As time goes, I think I am going to have better stuff."

Last season, after his May 29 trade from Arizona, Kim started three home games. The others were no-decisions on June 10 and June 15. Kim, after the laugher over Florida, went to the bullpen and appeared in 41 games the rest of the season. So yesterday's outing was artistically and statistically his best at Fenway.

"To do what he did was outstanding," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "I thought he got stronger as the game went on, his breaking balls got better, the ball was down in the strike zone and stayed there. We got a break early when the ball hit the runner. It was a huge break and he took advantage of it."

There were times when Kim's teammates made his return an even bigger challenge: On the game's first play, first baseman Brian Daubach muffed Carl Crawford's ground ball, but Kim got Rocco Baldelli, Robert Fick, and Aubrey Huff to fly out. A second- inning misplay of Cruz's foul pop that fell between catcher Doug Mirabelli and third baseman Bill Mueller preceded the walk to Cruz, but after getting his lucky break, Kim induced Julio Lugo to ground into a double play. And in the fourth, Manny Ramirez's error on a Huff popup with two outs was followed by a Cruz liner to center that ended the inning.

Kim, who ended his afternoon with a 1-2-3 fifth that concluded with a strikeout of Brook Fordyce, was met at the top of the dugout steps by his teammates.

"The guys were happy for him. He pitched his tail off," said Francona, who felt Mirabelli kept his starter aggressive and confident. And Mirabelli said Kim looked sharp in the bullpen before the game. "He wasn't going to hold anything back," said Mirabelli. "We hoped to get four innings out of him and we got five. That was a bonus, especially on a doubleheader day."