Mark Bellhorn has made striking out an art form, but he is an asset to the Red Sox in many other ways, says Terry Francona.

09:23 AM EDT on Friday, June 24, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA -- Listen up. Hear that?

No? Well, listen a little more carefully, then. There it was. Did you hear it?

Okay, so it's impossible to hear, but it sure can be maddening to watch for any Boston Red Sox fan.

That sound you heard -- or didn't hear -- was Mark Bellhorn swinging and missing for yet another strikeout. Or it was the sound of Bellhorn watching another strike three zip past him and into the catcher's mitt.

In his first year-plus with the Red Sox, Bellhorn has made striking out an art form. He whiffed a record-setting 177 times a year ago, and is on a pace that could break his record this season. He already has 81, which leads the majors.

Somehow, those quiet at-bats are in keeping with the second baseman's low-key persona. Contrary to public opinion, though, the strikeouts eat at him. But, thankfully, says manager Terry Francona, they don't affect his overall play or his next at-bat.

And that, says Francona, is what makes Bellhorn so valuable to the Red Sox. Or, he mentions, have you forgotten the two big home runs Bellhorn clubbed in the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees last fall that helped propel Boston to its first world championship in 86 years?

"I hear the crowd groan when he strikes out and I know people look at the strikeouts, but he sees a lot of pitches per game. He chews up a lot of pitches and wears out pitchers. And if he does strike out, he doesn't hang his head. He plays the game. He makes all the plays (in the field). He runs the bases. He does a lot of things for us."

Indeed, during Monday night's 10-9 win in Cleveland, Bellhorn made a snap and astute baserunning decision that enabled him to score from third on a checked-swing bouncer, propelling the Sox to a big inning.

AP photo

Second baseman Mark Bellhorn, top, completing a double play Wednesday night vs. Cleveland, is a key member of the Sox.

On Tuesday night, Bellhorn contributed a run-scoring double and a sacrifice fly. And in Wednesday night's victory, which gave Boston a sweep of the Indians, sending them into yesterday's day off on a high note in preparation for a three-game set that starts in Philadelphia tonight, Bellhorn expertly and without fanfare turned a double play that got the Sox out of a sixth-inning jam.

Francona considers Bellhorn to be one of his best baserunners, in terms of instincts. And he marvels at Bellhorn's strong arm and ability to turn the two.

"He's one of the better ones in the game at that," said Francona.

But Bellhorn also struck out twice in each of the games against the Indians.

Bellhorn and Francona agree that the 30-year-old infielder has a good eye. It's almost too good. To say the switch hitter is a selective hitter is an understatement. And he doesn't like expanding his strike zone to swing at pitches off the plate, even if plate umpires do occasionally call them strikes, tacking another whiff onto his statistics.

Most of the times Bellhorn takes a third strike, the pitch is indeed a few inches out of the zone, says Francona.

"That's the toughest thing for me. If I expand my zone it ends up hurting me sometimes. If the pitch is two inches off the plate or two inches low, I don't want to swing at it just to put it in play. It's a ball. But I know that sometimes it's too close to take," said Bellhorn the other day.

"I don't want to get in the hole, at 0 and 2, all the time, but I believe in my ability so much that even if it's 0 and 2, I feel I can foul a pitch off or take pitches that are balls and still get a walk," he said.

But he also hears the crowd grumble as he takes that long, slow walk back to the dugout after yet another whiff. It almost seems to the people watching as if he doesn't care. That is not true, he says.

"Rarely do I show emotion that it bothers me, but trust me, it does," said Bellhorn. "I get a little frustrated. Strikeouts have always been a part of the game for me and people are always asking me about them. I feel I do a lot of other things for the ballclub, but people always see the strikeouts. I don't want to change my approach. I like to work the count, get on base, drive runners in in certain situations."

Francona, meanwhile, says a fire burns in Bellhorn despite his placid demeanor.

"He's not a helmet-thrower, but he cares so much," said Francona.

"He's the same guy who hit the ball off the foul pole and into the seats in Yankee Stadium (last fall)," said Francona. "You can pick apart every player's game. At the same time, when you do that, you lose sight of the player's strengths. And he has a lot of strengths."

Which is why Francona can live with the strikeouts, especially with Bellhorn batting ninth in a fearsome lineup that is going to score runs in bunches with or without help from the bottom spot in the order.