Beckett commands attention

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Wearing the standard ice wrap on his shoulder and equally standard stoic look on his face, Josh Beckett walked into a media room yesterday after his City of Palms Park debut, looked around to see a capacity crowd, and asked, ''Is this necessary?"

Nobody really said anything, and Beckett added, ''You guys ask questions, I answer them."

Yes, he has an edge, and yes, this almost surely is a good thing. In his second spring appearance, he seemed in command, allowing five hits and just one run over five innings, fanning two and walking one. He threw 78 pitches and collected his strikeouts against consecutive batters in the second inning, getting Torii Hunter swinging at high heat and freezing Lew Ford with a curveball in the Red Sox' 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

''The best way I can put it is I'm glad he's in our uniform," summarized manager Terry Francona. ''I thought he looked strong. I think he felt like he had to work, which is good.

''His fastball had a lot of life on it. You saw some of those looks; Torii Hunter turned around [and intimated], this is a little extra giddyup."

Beckett, too, said he ''felt good, felt strong. I think I just need to get some more experience with these hitters in the American League, find my craft again."

Francona's new deal, reached earlier this week, calls for a $650,000 bonus this year, on top of the $600,000 he was scheduled to make under his old contract, putting his 2006 compensation at $1.25 million. He'll make $1.65 million in 2007 and $1.75 million in 2008, with potential bonuses each year for reaching the postseason and advancing.

Francona's negotiations lasted about three weeks this spring. The total package the club offered climbed by about $1.3 million, to the point that a deal was reached for a total compensation package of $4.05 million.

Previously in the lower echelon of managers in terms of pay (he made $500,000 in '04 and $550,000 last year), Francona jumps into the top one-third, if not higher.

The raise should help with his new mortgage and hefty tuition bills. At last check, Francona was paying about $70,000 per year for his son at the University of Pennsylvania and daughter at the University of North Carolina. He also has a daughter in high school and a daughter in middle school.

Approached yesterday and asked if he had a moment to talk about baseball, Manny Ramírez said, ''No." Asked if he might be available someday this season, Ramírez said, ''Send me a message." Asked where a message should be sent, Ramírez said, ''To Millar's phone." . . . Francona said Keith Foulke should make his spring debut Tuesday or Wednesday (that's March 21 or 22, with the season opener April 3). Foulke still wants to throw one more batting practice session and still needs one more Synvisc injection in his left knee . . . Francona has gone out of his way to not put Trot Nixon on a bus this spring, safeguarding against Nixon's cranky back. ''Is it preferential treatment? Yeah," Francona said. ''He looks so good this spring. He looks healthy. He looks like he's having fun. He feels good. I don't want him limping around." Nixon went 1 for 3 yesterday and is hitting .417 (10 for 24) with a homer and 6 RBIs . . . Mike Lowell, 3 for 21 entering yesterday, went 2 for 3 with a bloop single to right-center and a lined single to center, upping his average to .208. ''We had some fun at his expense, gave him a ball," said Francona, who's quickly become a huge fan of Lowell's demeanor. ''It's nice to see him having a little success, because he's working so hard." . . . Manny Delcarmen gave up a solo homer to Minnesota's Jason Hart on the first pitch of the ninth inning yesterday. Delcarmen, holding a tenuous 4-3 lead, came back to get out of the inning. He buckled Alex Romero with a curveball for the second out and got Peabody's Steve Lomasney to ground out to end it . . . Jon Lester, meanwhile, started and struggled for the Sox in a separate game against the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg. Of the 11 batters Lester faced, seven reached base (four hits, three walks) and four scored. In two spring starts, his line reads: 0-2, 4 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 5 BBs, 2 K's.

The Alex González show continued yesterday, when the bedazzling shortstop turned a stunning 1-6-3 double play. With two on and one out in the fifth, Luis Castillo grounded back to Beckett, who turned and threw to González. Coming across the bag, González caught the ball, catapulted off the second base bag to avoid Shannon Stewart, and, while airborne, threw a bullet to J.T. Snow to cut down Castillo. ''How 'bout that play?" Francona said. ''I didn't know what he was doing. I didn't know if he knew how many outs there were. I don't know how you do that. It's like MJ driving for the hoop. You wish you had replay. Because that's an unbelievable play." Beckett, González's teammate since Beckett broke into the majors in 2001, said, ''I've seen him make it more than a handful of times. I don't know anything else, so I really can't compare him to anything. He's been as good as anybody I've ever seen." . . . Because of the team's offday Monday, Tim Wakefield will follow starter Bronson Arroyo in Sunday's game vs. Baltimore . . . The Sox, with 46 players in camp, intend to make a small round of cuts today . . . Players of note making tomorrow's unenviable junket to Dunedin to play Toronto: Snow, Lowell, Willie Harris, and Dustan Mohr . . . Alex Cora, playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, was due back in town yesterday . . . Ken Huckaby caught David Wells's three-inning minor league appearance and could be in an actual game tomorrow.