Clement finds his happy place

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Just as the slider is Matt Clement's go-to pitch, the shrug is more often than not his go-to piece of body language. Rather expectedly, he said, ''I guess" and shrugged yesterday, when asked if he felt relieved to know he won't be dealt away late in camp, as he was in March 2001 and March 2002.

''I was being honest with you when I said I wasn't worried about it," said Clement, whose place with the Red Sox this season is all but assured, since Bronson Arroyo was dealt to Cincinnati and Jonathan Papelbon has been told he'll work out of the bullpen. ''I knew some pitcher would get traded. [But] they told me I was starting in Baltimore [the second series of the year] since the day I walked into camp. I'm ready to do the job. To me, it doesn't matter if I'm first, fifth, or third. I just want to go out there and have a chance to make 30-plus starts and do my job."

Clement, on a humid, 87-degree day, allowed three runs yesterday on six hits (including a Shawn Wooten homer) in a 4-3 loss to the Twins before 7,729 at Hammond Stadium. He walked three but fanned five. The most encouraging sign: He continues to regain confidence in his sinking fastball, to the point that he talks excitedly about it.

''I'm starting to feel good with it," he said. ''I can start mixing and matching, set some things up with it. It could be fun, but I still have to be consistent with it. I threw a lot of quality ones today. I can tell by the way lefthanders swing at it. Last year when I threw it, lefthanders would drive it or wouldn't be fooled by it or it would be so far off the plate it would be a ball."

Still, though, he continues searching for the feel of his go-to pitch, his slider.

''I need to tighten up my slider a little bit, the location of it," he said. ''I backed that one up that Wooten dropped his bat head on."

Clement, 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in his two starts, is scheduled to pitch in two more exhibitions, Tuesday at Sarasota vs. the Reds and Sunday, April 2, in Philadelphia. He's in line to pitch fourth in the rotation, debuting April 7 at Baltimore.

Terry Francona has asked David Wells what he'd like to do between his last spring start (probably April 1 at Philadelphia) and his regular-season debut April 12. Wells has said he has no interest in remaining behind in extended spring training. He'd much rather leave Florida with the team and throw bullpen sessions or simulated games. The club, though, might prefer he pitches in an actual game somewhere to stay sharp. ''We'll get that ironed out," Francona said. Because the Sox have two offdays in the first eight days of the season, they intend to go with a four-man rotation until the 12th. By skipping Wells, and putting him on the 15-day DL (backdated into spring training), the club can carry seven relievers early in the year. That should mean a roster spot for Lenny DiNardo until Wells is activated . . . Coco Crisp collected two more hits, upping his spring average to .472 (17 for 36). Mark Loretta also banged out two hits, including his second homer of the week, upping his spring average to .441 (15 for 34). Tony Graffanino went 0 for 2, falling to .200 (6 for 30). Alex González went 0 for 3, slipping to an alarmingly low .097 (3 for 31) . . . Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke will pitch in a minor league game today at 12:30 p.m. at City of Palms Park. The game is open to the public at no cost.

The Sox, who began camp with 61 players, got down to 37 yesterday, optioning second baseman/shortstop/center fielder Alejandro Machado to Pawtucket and reassigning outfielder Ron Calloway and righthander Jimmy Serrano to minor league camp. Machado, who appeared in 10 games last September, could help the Sox at some point this season. ''The more we've seen him, he's a pretty good player," Francona said. ''He can play center, you can put him anywhere in the infield, he can switch hit, and he can hit a fastball. And he's got good instincts on the bases. He's such a good kid. He wants to do the right thing all the time." . . . David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, Willie Harris, Adam Stern, Kevin Youkilis, and Graffanino headline the list of players making the journey today to Fort Lauderdale to play the Orioles . . . Sight of the day: Twins general manager Terry Ryan walked into the press box and introduced himself to all of the Boston writers . . . Buck Martinez, who worked yesterday's game for ESPN, said he enjoyed managing Jason Varitek and Mike Timlin at the World Baseball Classic. But it was Johnny Damon who cracked him up. In one game, Martinez told Damon he wanted him to pinch run for Alex Rodriguez. Damon, misunderstanding, said, ''You want me to hit?" Martinez repeated his request. ''OK," Damon said. ''I was going to check your temperature."