BOSTON — After a long, wet, sloppy day of baseball Saturday, Jason Varitek appeared before the Boston baseball media and was asked how his 39-year-old body is holding up this season.
“You’re asking me after a six-hour game? Terrible,” the Red Sox catcher said with a smile.
That sentiment is no doubt true. No one wants to labor through two rain delays and catch 141 pitches in the heat of a pennant race but that’s what Varitek happily signed up for when he decided to return for a 14th major-league season. Thus far, the season has been a strong one for a player now slotted into the backup catcher role.
Varitek not only accomplished his main goal of guiding Jon Lester, Dan Wheeler and Michael Bowden through nine innings but also contributed with his bat in Boston’s 9-3 victory over the Oakland A’s. He went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in the second inning. That ball was smashed, flying into the Sox bullpen in right-center field for his ninth home run of the season.
At 39 years and 138 days old, he’s the oldest Red Sox to hit a home run since Ellis Burks in 2004. Elston Howard (in 1968) is the only other Red Sox catcher to hit a home run after his 39th birthday.
“I feel good,” said Varitek. “There’s been different spikes at different times. The thing is in our position (as a catcher), we have to be ready. We go out and if something happens we have to be ready in the games.”
Fans see Varitek catch a few times a week but there are few true off days as a catcher. If Jarrod Saltalamacchia is in the game, Varitek could be asked to warm up a reliever or work in the bullpen. He also needs to stay ready in case of an injury in the most dangerous position in the game.
“You’re constantly grinding,” he said. “At different times I have to learn sometimes to back off just because I’m not 22 anymore.”
While there was plenty of conjecture whether the Red Sox would even ask Varitek to return this season, manager Terry Francona insists that was always his plan. “I didn’t think he was going to retire,” said Francona. “I think he’s still got a lot left. I think he’s proving that.”
Francona asks his captain to lead by example and while he may only be hitting .229, he’s more than happy with the production of the ”˜Tek-Saltalamacchia combination.
“What he does behind the plate, we’ve been saying for years. It’s nice when he chips in with the home runs like he’s done,” said Francona.
Varitek now owns a modest five-game hitting streak but he says his goals are fairly mundane: prepare and win today.
“It’s a day-to-day grind of just trying to do what you have to do that day to win,” he said.
“I think the basic goals are to win today and to prepare to win tomorrow.”
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