Putting in long days

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Manager Terry Francona, who has not watched either of Daisuke Matsuzaka's bullpen sessions, acknowledged yesterday that the Japanese pitcher, who is accustomed to doing considerably more throwing than his American counterparts in spring training, will continue to do so here.

Matsuzaka followed his first session Sunday by throwing long toss Monday, which customarily would be a day off here.

"I think that's an understatement," Francona said of Matsuzaka's long-toss session. "I've never seen someone throw the ball that long."

Francona said Matsuzaka was throwing at least 220 feet.

"That's a real long ball," he said. "John Farrell [who was playing long toss with Matsuzaka] could barely do the essentials today with that arm. He was hurting."

Francona said Matsuzaka probably will throw long toss every other day. Yesterday, in his 10-minute bullpen session, Matsuzaka threw 40 pitches, just as he did Sunday, only this time he also mixed in some breaking balls. He'll throw one more bullpen tomorrow before his first session of live batting practice Saturday, which will draw an even bigger crowd than the one that stalks his every move now.

While Francona worked on pitchers' fielding drills in the other half of the bullpen area, Matsuzaka's session was watched by Sox majority owner John W. Henry, chairman Tom Werner, and general manager Theo Epstein, who also was present for his first one.

Francona's drill, in which he and Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson alternate hitting ground balls and liners at a pitcher, continues to be one of the most spirited and entertaining drills in camp. Curt Schilling put on a show, snagging 19 consecutive balls, and Francona said every pitcher had improved in the three days of doing the drill.

The balls used in the drills are softer than baseballs, "but not that soft," said Francona. "They'll leave a welt. I did it in Texas, and we did it with real balls. There was nobody lining up for that drill."

Matsuzaka was asked if he found it unusual to have a manager joking with players the way Francona does after playing in a culture where the relationship tends to be more formal with the manager.

Matsuzaka said such byplay was not uncommon in similar drills in Japan. "The surprising thing to me," he said through a translator, "was when we could throw the fastballs back at him."

That was a joke, the translator quickly added.

Wily Mo Peña, who settled his arbitration case at $1.875 million -- less than the midpoint between the $2.2 million he was seeking and the $1.725 million offered by the club -- can earn an additional $100,000 based on plate appearances: $25,000 for 325, $25,000 for 350, $25,000 for 375, and $25,000 for 475. Pena mistakenly went to City of Palms Park yesterday instead of the player development facility, but quickly realized his error . . . David Ortiz had not arrived at the facility by sundown; neither had Alex Cora or J.D. Drew. All were expected by today, when physicals will be administered to position players . . . Manny Ramírez? Epstein declined to offer an update, but one club executive said he expected Ramírez to be here prior to the March 1 date he gave teammate Julian Tavarez. "His agent said Manny is in great shape and great spirits and promises to be good this season," the executive said. Maybe it's because of the attention directed toward Matsuzaka, or maybe because it's same-old same-old, but Ramirez's absence has created little stir here.

An Internet site reported that the Sox had decided that Jonathan Papelbon would be the club's closer, citing an interview Epstein gave that will be aired on NESN tonight. The site also took at face value jokes by Werner that the team had already decided who the closer was but just wasn't saying. In fact, Epstein's comments differed little from what he, Francona, and Farrell have been saying for more than a month. Here's Epstein's quote from the NESN interview: "We certainly hope a closer emerges from this group we have, either one of the veterans who have filled in when we needed it in the past, like a [Mike ] Timlin, or one of the really talented relievers coming off a bad year, like a [J.C.] Romero or even a [Brendan] Donnelly who is coming off a subpar year for him, or one of the younger guys, like a [Manny] Delcarmen or [Craig] Hansen, or even someone who may be targeted to start in the minor leagues. So hopefully, someone out of that group emerges. I hope I didn't forget anyone, Julian Tavarez as well as [Joel] Pineiro coming over, but if they don't, we have options. We have options internally, if Jon's shoulder progresses to a point we're comfortable it makes sense overall in the scheme of this ball club and his career. And then we have options outside of the organization as well. We can always pursue a trade. Yeah, it's an unsettling feeling not to have that guy now. I think as that person emerges, we'll all feel better."