Sveum feeling heat at corner

The customers at Fenway Park offered two standing ovations yesterday.

One went to Pedro Martinez as he walked to the mound to pitch the ninth inning of his 6-0 shutout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The other came in honor of Dale Sveum.

The Red Sox third base coach once again drew the ire of Red Sox Nation when Devil Rays center fielder Rocco Baldelli threw out runners at the plate on back-to-back at-bats in the fifth inning.

"Rocco Baldelli's been a pain in my butt," Sveum said of the Rhode Island-born outfielder, who picked Rhode Island Day at Fenway to show off his arm. "But, as long as I'm not getting booed for holding people all the time, I'm all right."

Sveum caught some heat over his aggressive philosophy after watching Baldelli throw out Dave Roberts for the first out in the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss at Tampa Bay Aug. 4. But he said recent events won't change his approach to coaching third. He tipped his cap to the mock salute given to him for holding up a runner in the sixth.

"I guess no publicity is bad publicity and I've gotten a lot of publicity," said Sveum, who is quickly becoming the Hub's most entertaining third base coach since Wendell Kim. "There's no doubt about that."

Since the Roberts incident, Sveum's decisions to send runners home have resulted in four outs at the plate. In addition to the Aug. 4 loss, the Sox lost two nights later in Detroit, 4-3, when Doug Mientkiewicz was erased at the plate. Those events were why fans slammed the coach, who up until nine days ago had successfully kept his name off of sports radio.

"Every third base coach runs through these stretches," said Sox manager Terry Francona, who defended Sveum's decisions.

Even the runners who were thrown out, Kevin Millar and Jason Varitek, defended Sveum.

"It was kind of a wide turn and I told Dale that after I came in," Varitek said. "I should have been able to score and I've scored a lot on that ball. But Rocco's throwing the ball extremely well."

Millar was the first victim, getting the short end of a bang-bang play when he tried to score from second on Varitek's single through the drawn-in infield.

Varitek was next, trying to score on Orlando Cabrera's liner to center.

Usually on the receiving end of home plate skirmishes, Varitek attempted a ball-jarring tackle on Devil Rays catcher Toby Hall.

The hit looked more like a chop block and seemed hard enough to ring Hall's bell. But it wasn't enough to knock the ball free, giving Baldelli his second outfield assist in as many batters.

"If he's going to keep sending guys, I just have to try to throw them out," said Baldelli, who grew up in Woonsocket. "It's not a big deal to me. Those were fairly hard-hit balls at me. It's not like they're impossible plays."

Sveum said he knew the plays were hardly impossible. But in his eyes, they were difficult. Despite being burned last week, Sveum showed no hesitation in forcing Baldelli to make perfect throws.

"It's part of the job," Sveum said. "Guys are going to make plays sometimes and I'm going to look bad. If those throws [last week] go 2 feet left or right, we're not even having this conversation."

Red Sox runners headed home have proved conducive to increasing Baldelli's outfield assist total. Of Baldelli's nine assists, which lead American League center fielders, four have come against the Red Sox within the last 10 days. He led the league last year with 14.

"If he wins a Gold Glove, he can thank us," Francona said.

Meanwhile, Sveum said the bad luck on the basepaths hasn't diminished his confidence.

"You don't go through 162 games and not get anybody thrown out," Sveum said. "I'm confident in my decisions, my ability, and my instincts."

Sveum even defended his decision to send Roberts home at Tampa Bay, the decision that has sparked the recent scrutiny.

"We had one of the fastest guys in baseball on second base and there was no outs and their closer is in the game," said Sveum, who has taken the heat in stride. "I took a chance because I've seen it happen before. You hold a guy and boom, the closer strikes out three in a row and you've left one of the fastest guys on third base."

Francona said Sveum's ability to handle the pressures of coaching third, and to endure the fallout from decisions gone awry, were some of the reasons he was given the job to begin with.

Sveum said he takes the recent criticism as just another part of the job. "It's a no-win situation," said Sveum about his position. "You don't get credit when you send guys home and they're barely safe by an inch, but you are going to get chastised when they're out in a bang-bang play. You don't get brownie points for sending Pokey [Reese] on an inside-the-park home run."