01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 12, 2006

BOSTON -- Opening Day was like Any Other Day for your 2006 Boston Red Sox.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Just another day in what, after the first week of the six-month season, shows promise of becoming an extraordinary year.

It was another formulaic win for the now 6-1 Sox, whose team chemistry couldn't be better. Timely hitting. A homer from Big Papi. Seven innings of three-hit, one-run pitching from starter Josh Beckett in his Fenway Park debut. A 1-2-3 ninth from closer Jonathan Papelbon, recording his fourth save in the last five games. Good defense. Even a stolen base, from Adam Stern, in a four-run second inning.

That pretty much, as the saying goes at the old ballyard, covers all the bases, doesn't it?

"I love the balance this team has," said new third baseman Mike Lowell, who celebrated his first game at Fenway in a Red Sox uniform by going 4-for-4, with two doubles and two RBI, as well as scoring a run.

It would be understandable if the passionate Boston fan base is having difficulty maintaining any semblance of equilibrium, given the way the Old Towne Team has come tearing out of the starting gate.

How can the fervent Fenway faithful not get excited over seeing yet another quality start, capped once again by the overpowering Papelbon, who has allowed just one hit in his five outings this oh-so-promising spring?

Speaking of overpowering, fan favorite David Ortiz celebrated his signing Monday of a four-year contract extension that will pay him $12.5 million a year through 2010 by blasting his second homer of the season, deep to right field in the seventh.

Lowell had driven in the first Boston run with a double in the second. Then Stern, who was in the starting lineup only because regular center fielder Coco Crisp had been placed on the disabled list after breaking a finger Saturday in Baltimore, followed with a two-run double. So add bench depth to all the other good stuff the Sox have going for them.

"It's been one week," said Boston manager Terry Francona, trying not to get overly enthusiastic about what has been an obviously pleasing beginning to his third season in Boston.

"We're trying hard to play winning baseball. We're doing some little things. We're doing some big things. We think we have a good team. If we do, then we just need to go play."

Big things first.

Beckett, after throwing 36 pitches in the first inning, when he walked three batters -- including Lyle Overbay with the bases loaded -- gave up just two hits and no runs over the next six innings.

"He just needed to settle down and start hitting his spots," Francona said. "He's an emotional kid. He gets excited. He gets fired up. That's OK. He just had to get into the flow of the game. Like with a lot of good pitchers, if you don't get to him early, you miss your opportunity."

Shea Hillenbrand, batting after Overbay, thought Beckett had missed the plate with a 3-1 pitch and started toward first base, thinking he'd forced in another run.

Not so fast, said plate umpire Jerry Layne.

"I was a little mad [Hillenbrand] thought that 3-1 pitch was ball four," Beckett said. "I didn't appreciate that."

What Beckett did appreciate was shortstop Alex Gonzalez and second baseman Mark Loretta turning an inning-ending double play after Hillenbrand fouled off the next two pitches.

They pulled off another DP in the fourth that, while not as timely, was more spectacular -- Loretta leaping high for a hot line drive off the bat of Benjie Molina and deflecting it off his glove toward second base, where Gonzalez picked it up and, after stepping on the bag for the force, fired to first to nail Molina.

"I feel -- and I think our pitchers feel -- that we're always one pitch away from getting out of an inning," Francona said.

Sox fans have the feeling this could be a big year for Beckett, who was brought to Boston after going 15-8, with a 3.38 earned-run average, for the Marlins last season. He's young (26 next month), talented and very competitive.

"He's such a perfectionist," said Lowell, who played with Beckett the last four years in Florida. "He wanted to destroy the dugout after that first inning."

The veteran Lowell -- he turned 32 in February -- readily understood why Beckett wanted to make a good first impression in Boston. He felt the same way, entering the game with a .190 batting average after struggling through the worst season of his career last year, when he hit just .236, with only 8 home runs, for the Marlins.

"Any time you're in a new situation," Lowell said, "it's only natural to want to show the type of player you are."

Beckett knows exactly what type of player Lowell is.

"Mike Lowell is one of the smartest players I've ever played with," he said. "He's going to be fine. Everybody's talking about last year. But what about the previous five years? Are you going to tell me that the five years before that were a fluke, and last year was what he really was? You'll never convince me of that."

Lowell never hit below .270 in the five seasons from 2000 through 2004, and averaged nearly 28 homers a year from 2002 through '04, with a career-high 32 in 2003.

The Sox are convinced that he'll once again put up those numbers, given the proximity of the The Green Monster and the fact he's a pull hitter.

"That wall might take away a few home runs," Lowell said, "but it's also going to give you some hits. That last double I hit [in the eighth] might have been an out in other parks.

"Just because I'm a pull hitter, I don't want to get 'pull-happy.' I have to tune out the Wall and let it happen."

Good things are happening for the 2006 Red Sox. Not just on Opening Day, but, so far, just about Every Day.

jdonalds@projo.com / (401) 277-7340