Arms more than half the battle.

Byline: Bill Ballou

COLUMN: BASEBALL NOTES

Depending upon which baseball philosopher is being quoted, pitching is either 75 or 90 percent of the game.

It used to be about 35 percent of the roster, but that changes by the season, it seems, and these days almost half of the Red Sox roster is made up of pitchers - 12 of 25 - and who knows where it will end.

"I'd have 14 pitchers if I could," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

As recently as the late 1980s, a guy like Sparky Anderson would go through part of a season with nine pitchers and expand to 10 in a pinch. And Anderson was known as "Captain Hook" for his willingness to get a pitcher out of a game early.

Back then, every team had what was known as a long man, a Dennis Lamp, a Bob Stanley - capable of going four, five, six innings when needed. No Boston reliever has worked more than 21/3 innings in a game this year.

"To me," Francona said, "having a pitcher you'll use in a blowout game is managing scared. It's like not using your second catcher in a game in case you run out of catchers, but how often does that happen? I'll take that chance.

"I don't want to have a guy on the staff who, you send him out there when you're six runs down and he's huffing and puffing after 10 pitches, sweat pouring off him, giving up bombs. I want guys who can help you win games."

With the complete game nearing extinction and mix-and-match the way managers approach the late innings, teams need more pitchers. Beyond that, some relievers just aren't good enough to face more than two or three batters, especially the lefty specialists like Mike Myers, etc.

The down side to having 12 pitchers is that a manager has just 13 position players. That means his pinch-hitting and pinch-running options are limited. That means he has to be careful about employing defensive replacements. It means, in the Red Sox' case, that a young player like Jacoby Ellsbury, who has speed and a great glove, isn't around for the late innings.

And there are those times when even Francona would love to have one more bat on the bench in place of one more arm in the bullpen.

"It doesn't happen very often," he said, "and when it does, I bite my tongue. I have nothing to say about it because it's my decision."

Francona has said that he believes a manager is ultimately judged, fair or not, by how he uses his bullpen. The judgment for this season is quite favorable so far, for the Boston bullpen has been excellent, and has left Francona with no reason to think that he is wrong about having a clubhouse full of pitchers.

Another bridge burned

Not many players have worn out as many welcomes as Shea Hillenbrand, released last week by the Angels at the age of 31. The Red Sox were glad to be rid of his moody clubhouse presence, although they only got B.K Kim - another oddball - in return. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons disliked Hillenbrand so much he said he'd quit if J.P. Ricciardi didn't unload him, which he did to the Giants, who also didn't bring him back. ... A couple of good books arrived in the mail recently, both from Maple Street Press in Hingham. The "Guide to New England Ballparks" by Tom Mason is just that and includes the biggies like Fenway Park and lesser known ones like Cardines Field in Newport, R.I. Of special interest are the detailed histories of the parks and the cities they are in. Also available is the "Ultimate Red Sox Companion," edited by Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer. It is loaded with facts and figures, mostly in an encyclopedia format, but with some narrative, too. One gripe - it lists Sox draft choices year by year and has Rick Asadoorian going to Whitinsville High in Northbridge when it is, of course, the other way around. ... J.D. Drew's weekly injuries are getting tiresome, but come as no surprise given his history of being brittle. Drew could be the first big leaguer to ever have a transaction entry that says - 15-day Disabled List (boo-boo). ... Javier Lopez turned 30 on Wednesday, giving Boston 13 30-somethings on the roster, more than half. Eric Hinske and Kyle Snyder will both be 30 before the season ends, too. Former Sox catcher and bullpen coach Len Okrie turns 84 tomorrow, former lefty pitcher Windy McCall will be 82 on Wednesday. ... Last week, when asked about the ease of Daisuke Matsuzaka's transition to the American League, Francona told Steve Krasner of the Providence Journal, "He's been a major league pitcher for a long time." That statement will be worth taking into consideration come time for Rookie of the Year voting.

Playing a numbers game with Beckett

Josh Beckett, who starts this afternoon's game, figures to have 15 starts left this season, counting today's. He heads into the afternoon with a 12-2 record and is flirting with the possibility of not just winning 20 games, but having 20 more wins than losses.

It does not happen often.

The last time was in 1990 when Oakland's Bob Welch went 27-6. The last time it happened for the Red Sox was in 1986 when Roger Clemens went 24-4.

Since the end of World War II, it has happened only nine times. Aside from Welch and Clemens, Dwight Gooden went 24-4 for the Mets in '85, Ron Guidry 25-3 for the Yankees in '78, Denny McLain 31-6 for the Tigers in '68, Sandy Koufax 25-5 for the Dodgers in '63, Whitey Ford 25-4 for the Yankees in '61, Don Newcombe 27-7 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in '56 and Robin Roberts 28-7 for the Phillies in 1952.

Seven of the nine pitchers who won 20 more than they lost pitched in the World Series that year. The only two who did not were Gooden and Roberts.

Batting coaches striking out

Being a batting coach has turned into the most thankless job in baseball, at least for anyone wearing a uniform. The first-place Mets just canned Rick Down, who was Boston's batting coach during the tumultuous 2001 season, then was fired.

The Red Sox are comfortably in first place, more comfortable than the Mets, and that may be the only thing keeping Dave Magadan in his job here what with how disappointing the Boston offense has been. Still, changing batting coaches rarely changes performance - it's just doing something to do something.

How much did the Sox gain from firing Ron Jackson, who was good enough at his job to help them win the World Series in 2004 and help David Ortiz hit 173 home runs in four years?

Baseball Jeopardy

Answers

1. He holds the Red Sox club record for making the most starts in his Boston career without ever having pitched in relief.

2. This former Red Sox infielder is the only native of Wyoming to ever hit for the cycle.

3. The last Red Sox first baseman to steal 10 or more bases in a season.

Questions below.

Boston unlikely to deal top prospects

In the upcoming trading flea market, the Red Sox would love to be able to unload some heavy baggage like Wily Mo Pena and Craig Hansen and there is probably an organization or two out there that thinks it can somehow unlock the untapped potential in those two disappointing youngsters.

What is more likely is that other teams will be seeking Boston prospects that of yet have not had a chance to fail. Names that come immediately to mind in terms of who might be sought after in a deadline deal include pitchers Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz at Pawtucket, outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury, David Murphy and Brandon Moss with the PawSox; shortstop Jed Lowrie, outfielder Bubba Bell, and pitcher Michael Bowden in Portland; first baseman Aaron Bates in Lancaster and DH Jonathan Still with Greenville.

Lester, Buchholz and Ellsbury are sure to be untouchables, though. Murphy might be a good sleeper pickup for some organization. He has fallen behind Ellsbury on the Boston depth chart, though.

Jeopardy Questions

1. Who is Aaron Sele? Sele made 108 starts for the Sox without appearing in relief. Dennis Eckersley would have had that record had he not come back for one final season as a reliever in 1998. Eckersley pitched in 191 games, all as a starter, during his first stint with Boston from 1978 through 1984.

2. Who is Mike Lansing? The ill-tempered infielder hit for the cycle during the 2000 season when he was playing for Colorado.

3. Who is Mo Vaughn? Vaughn had 11 steals in 15 tries during his MVP season in 1995.

Two at a time

Former Sox slugger Jim Rice has gotten a lot of votes for the Hall of Fame, and his supporters cite his numbers. But how about those grounded-into-double-play numbers? Rice hit into double plays at the most prolific rate in team history, among players with significant Sox careers.

The Top 20 Sox in terms of grounding into double plays, and how many plate appearances they averaged per GDP:

PLAYER GDP PA AVG.

Jim Rice 315 9,058 28.8

Sammy White 122 3,596 29.5

George Scott 157 4,740 30.2

Vern Stephens 95 2,872 30.2

Jackie Jensen 146 4,518 30.9

Frank Malzone 161 5,702 35.4

Manny Ramirez 108 4,046 37.5

Mike Greenwell 136 5,166 38

Troy O'Leary 93 3,788 38.7

Rick Burleson 114 4,491 39.4

Jimmy Piersall 90 3,784 42

Jason Varitek 102 4,323 42.4

Carl Yastrzemski 323 13,991 43.3

Wade Boggs 163 7,323 44.9

Dwight Evans 220 10,240 46.5

Mo Vaughn 94 4,452 47.4

Rico Petrocelli 127 6,170 48.6

Ted Williams 197 9,769 49.6

Billy Goodman 87 5,057 58.1

Dom DiMaggio 107 6,478 60.5

NAME: BOSTON RED SOX 

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Former Angels first baseman Shea Hillenbrand is being forced to find a new place to call home ... again. (2) Boston's Josh Beckett, left, has a chance to join a club that features such pitchers as, from top, (3) Roger Clemens, (4) Sandy Koufax, (5) Dwight Gooden and (6) Whitey Ford (7) Jim Rice

PHOTOG: ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS