Slam-bang first impression

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A walkoff grand slam in spring training deserves at least this much: David Ortiz, voice booming across the clubhouse, letting Ed Rogers know he was paying attention.

"Oh yeah, he was laughing," Rogers said. "He said, 'Oh my God, you got power like me.'

"I don't have power like David Ortiz, no."

What Edward Antonio Rogers has is a chance at a new start. After nine seasons in the Orioles organization -- and a total of 30 games with the big club -- Rogers is trying to win a place with the Red Sox, signing as a nonroster player. The native of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, whose stock with the Orioles dropped significantly when they learned he was three years older than they thought he was when they signed him, projects to be Triple A Pawtucket's starting shortstop. He turns 29 Aug. 29. The Orioles thought he was 16 when they signed him in 1998, only to discover he was 19.

Rogers spent the last two seasons in the International League with Triple A Ottawa, though in 2005 he had the distinction of being the only player in the big leagues to homer in his only at-bat when he connected off Alan Embree, then with the Yankees. That was also his first big league hit.

"I thank God for the opportunity here," said Rogers, who yesterday broke a 5-5 tie when he drove a ball over the left-field fence against Mets righthander Ambiorix Burgos in a 9-5 win over the New Yorkers before a sellout crowd of 8,204 in City of Palms Park.

"I feel comfortable here," Rogers said. "I know a lot of good people here -- Manny Ramírez, David Ortiz, Julio Lugo. If it's here or Pawtucket, either way I feel good and I'll do my job."

Bobby Scales's wife, Monica, is working on her dissertation for her PhD at the University of Georgia in Athens, where they live. "I've got to get my master's," Scales said with a laugh yesterday, "just to have a conversation with my wife."

For now, however, the nonroster invitee is occupied with trying to win a job with the Sox, though like his wife, he's no dummy -- before turning pro, he earned his degree at the University of Michigan, where he was a walk-on to the baseball team and left as All-Big Ten and the Wolverines' MVP.

"I look around this clubhouse, you don't want to say you're not going to do something, but it's going to be extremely difficult for me to make this team out of spring training," Scales said. "I understand that. At this point, I'm just trying to play as hard as I can and do things the right way, so with the powers that be, if something happens during the season, it will be my turn to come up."

Yesterday, he made two outstanding plays in left field, including a terrific diving catch, which didn't earn him much love from his Fort Myers roommate, Kerry Robinson, another nonroster invitee who has something on his résumé -- big league experience -- that Scales is still lacking.

"I didn't bother to get up from the bench," Robinson said, needle out, "because I didn't think he had a chance to catch it."

Scales, 29, began with the Padres -- a 14th-round draft choice in 1999 -- but doesn't recall meeting Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who was then in baseball operations in San Diego. "I knew of him," Scales said, "and he said he knew of me. When I got here and met him again, I said, 'We've both come a long way since our days in San Diego,' and he said, 'I remember when you were a name on the draft board.' "

Scales, who spent last season in the Phillies' system, was drafted as a second baseman but now plays a variety of positions. He'll take this as far as it goes, but he also has had a taste of what he might do outside baseball -- while at Michigan, he spent a summer interning with Nike, where he not only played for the company baseball team but met the boss, Phil Knight, while also spotting some of the shoe company's celebrity endorsers.

"It was awesome," he said. "I was out there in Beaverton, Ore., man; it was an unbelievable experience. I was on campus, working in college marketing. I was 19 at the time. I saw all the Nike shoes in my locker, the sweats, the swooshes everywhere. I got to see the logistics, the wheels turning.

"I met Gabrielle Reese. That was my summer, right there."

Alex Cora provided the day's other defensive highlight for the Sox with a diving stop at second, which he flipped to shortstop Rogers for a force play in the seventh . . . Jonathan Papelbon followed Tim Wakefield's three scoreless innings with another dominant outing, three shutout innings with four strikeouts. This will be their last go-round on three days' rest, though manager Terry Francona said he does not know yet whether they'll have to piggyback one more time. Wakefield, who is working on mixing his curveball into his knuckleball-occasional fastball repertoire, said he understands he is the No. 5 starter "for now." . . . Not a good day for the bullpen. Brendan Donnelly was charged with four runs on two hits and two walks. "He was working on his splitter," Francona said, "and lost the strike zone." Lefthander Hideki Okajima, meanwhile, replaced Donnelly and gave up a three-run home run to Damion Easley, who jumped on a hanging breaking ball. "I know it was my mistake to throw that pitch," Okajima said through a translator. "I will work on it so it does not happen again." . . . Coco Crisp had a sacrifice fly but is just 1 for 11 so far, after tearing up camp with a .434 average last spring . . . Ramírez had an RBI single for his first spring hit in seven at-bats . . . Mike Timlin (oblique strain) has been cleared for his first game action, an inning in Lakeland Saturday . . . Sox brass held a meeting to discuss roster cuts, but with minor league camp not due for its first full workout until Sunday, the team may hold off on any announcements . . . Split squad today: Curt Schilling will pitch against the Twins in Hammond Stadium; Kyle Snyder will be here against the Blue Jays. The middle of the order will remain at City of Palms Park -- Ortiz, Ramirez, and J.D. Drew, as well as Crisp. Lugo will be among the regulars to go to Hammond . . . Dave O'Brien, the Quincy, Mass., native and Syracuse grad who broadcast Marlins and Mets games before joining ESPN, made his Red Sox broadcast debut yesterday on WRKO (680 AM). O'Brien will work a partial schedule of Sox games while still doing work for ESPN . . . The word on Pedro Martínez is that he is working out almost in seclusion in Mets minor league camp as he tries to make his way back from shoulder surgery. So far, he's just doing some light tossing. An August return has been projected . . . Schilling now has his own blog, 38pitches.com.