Red Sox Notes: Sale adjusts after adrenaline surge; Three things we learned

JUPITER, Fla -- For the last few weeks, the Red Sox have been stressing the importance of their pitchers gradually ramping up, in preparation for the long season ahead. "Easy does it'' was the unofficial motto.

That lasted until the bottom of the first inning at Roger Dean Stadium Friday, with Chris Sale on the mound, and the radar gun reading 97 mph in his first official game of the spring.

"I looked up and I told Ron (Roenicke, bench coach), 'Well, for all that we've talked about holding back...,'' said Cora with a chuckle.

After the first inning, pitching coach Dana LeVangie made the point to Sale that it wasn't necessary to be throwing that hard, this early. Lesson learned.

"He was going from 30 people watching you on Field 2 (at the Red Sox minor league complex) to (5,000) people here,'' said Cora after the Red Sox' 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins. "But it was a great day. He's a competitor, very intense. He was excellent. For everything we've worked for in camp, to see him go out there and be that way makes you feel a lot better.''

"I kind of had to change it up a little bit after that,'' said Sale a bit sheepishly of his velocity spike in the first inning. "We're still working on that buildup. It's tough - you get out there for the first time, there's a crowd, you're playing against a different team and you want to get out there and compete. But at the same time, you've got to know what the end goal is and what we're working toward. In the end, we were right where we needed to be.''

Sale threw 58 pitches over four innings, allowing four hits, one run with five strikeouts.

"It's part of the process,'' he said. "We have a plan set, a process we've talked about and we're trying to stay on track.''

"The fact that he has accepted what we wanted to do is great,'' said Cora, "because he understands this is not only about 162 games; he might have to pitch until November and he needs to be ready for that.''

Sale was a standout last year, leading the American League in strikeouts and leading baseball in innings pitched. But his career-long trend of tiring toward the end of the season has him willing to make adjustments.

"You're always trying to get better -- that's the bottom line,'' said Sale. "It doesn't matter who you are in this game or what position you play or how long you've been here, you always want to get better. You can have the best year of your career, and you're going to show up in spring training the next year and try to get better. So, this is all part of that process.''

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Three things we learned from the Red Sox 5-4 loss to Miami:

1-Very quietly, Sam Travis is having a great spring.

It's hard to imagine how Travis makes the team this spring, but he can help himself in the long run if he continues to mash the way he has. He slugged a homer in the sixth for his third homer of the Grapefruit League season, giving him nine RBI. He also sports a .622 slugging percentage.

The Sox wanted to see him drive the ball more this spring and Travis has done that.

"I'm using my legs a little bit more, just hitting through the ball and not spinning off,'' said Travis. "I'm staying real grounded and trying to hit the ball in the air (more).''

"He's had quality at-bats and he's driving the ball all over the place,'' said Cora of Travis. "He put a good swing (on the homer). That was loud. When he barrels balls, it's a loud noise, different than most of them.''

Travis played left field for the first time this spring. He played there in college and summer ball and the Sox want to expose him to another position.

2-Don't read too much into Christian Vazquez catching Chris Sale.

Last season, Sandy Leon caught Sale in all but two of the lefty's starts and the two seemed to jell. Alex Cora hasn't committed to specific playing time for his catchers, or said whether Sale will again have a personal catcher.

Vazquez got the call Friday because he lives in Miami, and with the Sox playing up the east coast a bit, it was an opportunity for Vazquez to get home for a night.

"Right now, we're just letting them play,'' said Cora. "Those two guys, on any given day, we're comfortable with either -- not only defensively, but offensively, they can do a lot of things to benefit this lineup.''

3-The Sox made some mental notes about the Marlins' tendencies.

The two teams meet in the second series of the regular season next month, and the Sox will be on the lookout for Miami's habit of back picks to catch wandering baserunners. In the second inning, Vazquez was picked off second, and Travis off first.

"I'm glad that it happened today,'' said Cora smiling. "We play them in Game 5 and 6, so now we know. When it happened, I was like, 'Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.' They do a lot of things, pick-wise. But now we know, so we'll be ready when we go down there.''

PITCHING SCHEDULES:

SATURDAY SCHEDULED PITCHERS: (vs. MINN): LHP David Price, RHP Joe Kelly, RHP Matt Barnes, RHP Carson Smith, LHP Robby Scott
SUNDAY'S SCHEDULED PITCHERS: (vs. BAL): RHP Rick Porcello, RHP Heath Hembre, RHP Hector Velazquez, RHP Ty Buttrey