01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, April 16, 2006

BOSTON -- The Mariners employed a modified shift when David Ortiz batted in the first inning -- and it cost them a hit.

Second baseman Jose Lopez was swung way around in the hole, about 10 feet back on the right-field grass. But shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt was on the shortstop side of second base by about five feet, instead of on the second-base side of the bag, which is where the shortstop generally plays in a shift against Ortiz.

Ortiz took advantage of that "hole," bouncing a single up the middle, about 10 feet to the right of the second-base bag.

In Ortiz's next at-bat, the Mariners put the shift on again, but this time Betancourt was pulled over to the right side of second base, positioned exactly where Ortiz's hit had gone. This time it didn't matter where Betancourt was positioned. Ortiz flied to center.

But when Ortiz came to the plate in the fifth, Betancourt was again pulled over to the right side of the bag. And that put him in perfect position to field a grounder by Ortiz.

The right decision

As Adrian Beltre's swinging bunt began rolling down the third-base line, Boston catcher Josh Bard got out of his crouch and chased the ball.

He had a decision to make. The ball might have rolled foul, but Bard, showing a lot of confidence in his arm, picked it up inches from the line with his back toward first, whirled and threw a sizzling strike that beat Beltre to the bag for the second-inning out.

Learning experience

Adam Stern is a promising player, but his inexperience hurt him in his second-inning at-bat, when he came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out.

He was far too anxious, and Seattle pitcher Joel Pineiro took advantage, striking him out on three pitches. Stern flailed and missed on a nasty down-and-away splitter for the second strike. So Pineiro came back with the same pitch, this time bouncing it away, and the overaggressive Stern chased it.

Stern had a chance to make amends, batting with runners at first and second with one out in the seventh. The result, though, was the same, a three-pitch strikeout. This time Stern simply was overpowered by J.J. Putz, who fired fastballs past him.

Call it the education of a rookie.

Perseverance pays

Sox second baseman Alex Cora never quits on a play, and that paid off in an out in the fourth on Jeremy Reed's one-hop bunt to first baseman J.T. Snow. The ball was easy enough to handle, especially for a Gold Glove winner such as Snow, so Cora could have eased up, figuring Snow would make the play himself.

But he didn't. Cora went racing toward the bag just in case, and as a result, when Snow bobbled the ball, Cora was in position for the flip throw from Snow to beat the speedy Reed, keeping the inning's leadoff man off the bases and short-circuiting the Mariners' inning before it had a chance to get going.

Productive at-bats come in varying lengths, as Bard demonstrated. Bard worked a 12-pitch walk in the second after falling behind in the count at 0-and-2. In the fourth, he ripped a first-pitch single to left.

Production shortage

No one should have been expecting the 2006 Red Sox to score in bunches, the way they have in the past. But over the last few games, Boston hitters haven't been putting the ball in play often enough, nor have they been hitting in the clutch.

The Red Sox whiffed nine times yesterday, bringing their total for the past three games to an alarming 32 strikeouts. And yesterday's 0-for-6 performance with runners in scoring position dropped them to 1-for-18 in such situations in the two games against the Mariners.

Twice in the last three games, Boston has loaded the bases with none out and not scored.

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