McCarty ready to pitch in

In a 15-2 loss, something had to be compelling enough to keep the attention of a few thousand fans who lingered at Fenway Park in a blowout.

David McCarty was already in the game as the designated hitter, replacing David Ortiz, who along with a few other starters had long ago been given the rest of the night off. With the bullpen stretched out after Bronson Arroyo lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his worst outing of the season, McCarty was jettisoned to the bullpen to warm up in the eighth and ninth innings.

He said he never got into the game because he was only going to appear if Anastacio Martinez, in his second inning of relief, got into trouble in the ninth.

After he hit for Ortiz in the seventh and doubled, McCarty started warming up in the eighth. He got back up in the ninth.

If McCarty had pitched, the Sox would have lost the DH and the pitcher would have had to hit. In this case, McCarty was the DH and he would have been the pitcher, so he would have hit anyway.

"That's a National League manager," McCarty said of Terry Francona. "He thinks about those things."

McCarty, a lefthanded pitcher with a high leg kick, still throws on the side at least once a week to prepare for one of his garbage-time outings. He appeared in the Fenway opener April 9 against the Toronto Blue Jays (also a game Arroyo started), pitching two-thirds of an inning in a 10-5 loss. That came after the Sox' bullpen had been taxed the night before in a 13-inning game against the Orioles.

Arroyo had given Francona six innings, but then Francona had to go to the pen for lefty Mark Malaska because both Mike Timlin and Alan Embree had been pitching a lot in the first series of the year. Timlin gave Francona one inning and Embree pitched to three batters before McCarty mopped up, allowing one hit, one run, and one walk. He faced four batters, and the one hit was a two-run double by Blue Jays catcher Kevin Cash.

McCarty, the former Stanford University star who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1991, has tried to make himself as versatile as possible to stay on the Sox' roster. He's the team's top defensive first baseman and is used as a righthanded bat off the bench with Ellis Burks on the disabled list recovering from knee surgery. Francona also has used him in left.

McCarty, hitting .250 with a home run and six RBIs, said he works under the close watch of pitching coach Dave Wallace in serious sessions.

"I work on mechanics and maintaining feel," McCarty said. "I'm throwing a fastball, slider, changeup, and split. Dave watches it. We talk about it. You're always trying to get better with all of the pitches, but basically I'm just trying to maintain the feel of them."

In his only outing, his fastball topped out at 87 miles per hour. McCarty feels he can throw harder.

McCarty said he still gets quite a kick out of having the chance to warm up and get into the game. But he says that's bittersweet because, "I know what the situation is going to be most of the time when I'm called on."

McCarty led the Sox in homers in spring training with seven and hit .410 to ensure his roster spot. He took off at the plate when the Sox made a decision to curtail his pitching so he could concentrate on hitting. Just when it appeared McCarty wouldn't see a mound for some time, he got the call on Opening Day at Fenway.

Last night, Martinez was able to get out of the ninth unscathed, and McCarty trotted back to the dugout to take a bat and get ready for his ninth-inning at-bat (he hit into a double play).

From warming up in the bullpen in the top of the inning to taking a bat to the plate in the bottom of the inning. You don't see that often from a guy who came into the game as a DH.