Arroyo: Rocker gets rocked

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The dreadful spring of Bronson Arroyo continues. Apparently bound for the bullpen, the righty rocker made his third start yesterday and it was 5-0 before he retired a Cincinnati Reds batter. Arroyo hit the leadoff man, then gave up a double, single, walk, and a long home run to old pal Scott Hatteberg.

''I guess I was missing with location," said Arroyo. ''But I felt better than I had in my last two starts."

In his first start, against the Pirates, Arroyo gave up five hits and three runs in 1 2/3 innings. Last week against the Dodgers, he was hammered for five hits and five runs in two innings. He walked four and struck out none in those two games.

Yesterday he settled down and retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced, but his spring ERA is 17.55.

''Today I was taking it as serious as a real game," he said. ''I just didn't get it done. I'm not as comfortable as I should be on the mound."

Regarding starting the season in the bullpen, Arroyo said, ''I'm fine with it. The way I'm pitching, if it comes to a coin toss, I'm going to lose it."

Manager Terry Francona on Arroyo: ''I thought in the first inning he had a 'spring training' inning, then he cleaned it up. He just needs to tighten up his breaking ball and locate his fastball. He'll be just fine. Bronson's a good pitcher."

Arroyo on Francona's contract extension: ''It's wonderful playing for him. He never kills us in the papers."

Mike Lowell is 3 for 21 and his bat looks slow. He went 0 for 5 against the Dodgers Monday and had two ground outs and a walk in yesterday's 9-7 loss to the Reds. It's only spring training, but things could be tough on Lowell if he struggles at the start of the season. He batted only .236 with 8 homers and 58 RBIs in 150 games in 2005, and it was shrugged off as simply a bad season. Francona said, ''He might be trying too hard to make a great first impression. I bet you he heard all that stuff about how we supposedly wanted [Josh] Beckett so badly that we took him." The Sox were forced to take Lowell and his whopping contract in order to make the deal with the Marlins for Beckett. Lowell, a three-time All-Star, is 32 years old.

Outfielder Dustan Mohr hit his third homer of the spring, and Jeff Bailey also crushed a homer to left in the eighth for the Sox. Brian Buchanan, son-in-law of John Havlicek, homered for the Reds in the ninth . . . Coco Crisp beat out a perfect bunt in the bottom of the first and hit a hard single to left in the third. He's batting .455 for the spring . . . Manny Ramírez (the DH, while Mohr played left) hit the ball hard twice and had one hit before Enrique Wilson pinch ran for him in the third . . . The Sox returned righthander Jamie Vermilyea to the Blue Jays in accordance with Rule 5 guidelines. The cut reduced Boston's roster to 46 . . . Catcher Ken Huckaby (left knee) is still not ready to play . . . Here's an only-in-spring-training story: When Francona came out to the dugout to meet with the media at 9:30 a.m., he asked, ''Who are we playing today?" . . . Francona said Keith Foulke would pitch to hitters one more time, maybe today, before the Sox put him in an exhibition game. ''It depends on how he feels," said the manager.

The Red Sox will send a squad to Fort Lauderdale to play the Orioles today. Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield will stay behind and start against one another in a minor league game in Fort Myers. Josh Bard will catch both Schilling and Wakefield. Schilling is scheduled to make only one more start -- against the Pirates, which could be interesting if the Bucs are still upset about Schilling saying it was Chris Duffy's fault for not getting out of the way of Schilling's beanball last Saturday. Tomorrow is a split-squad day, with one Boston team playing the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg, and another unit at home against the Twins. Jon Lester will start in St. Pete, Beckett against the Twins, and David Wells is slated to pitch in a minor league game tomorrow . . . If you're not seeing many quotes from Theo Epstein, it's because the GM has been a virtual recluse in Fort Myers. Young Theo is not seen on the field before the games and rarely seen in the clubhouse before or after games. He joined Francona in a postgame news conference to announce the manager's contract extension . . . Yesterday's record crowd of 8,147 was the Sox' 40th consecutive spring sellout at City of Palms Park . . . The Ted Williams Museum held its 13th Hall of Fame Induction Dinner in Fort Myers last night. Wade Boggs, Jonathan Papelbon, David Ortiz, and Mike Dee were among those honored. The museum, run by David McCarthy, is moving to the Tropicana Dome in St. Petersburg.