Obig Charles

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Those who tune into Red Sox broadcasts on a daily basis in 2006 will likely start to hear the following phrase in their sleep: "Loretta scores."

Mark Loretta, the man brought over from San Diego to play second base, is all but certain to be thrust into one of the most enviable lineup slots in baseball.

That would be batting second for the Boston Red Sox, which means hitting in front of monster mashers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

"If I end up hitting second, I don't think there's any better 3-4 combination you could have behind you in the game, maybe in history," said Loretta, who worked out with his new team for the first time on Wednesday. "The only numeric goal that I have is to score at least 100 runs."

He's come to the right place. Consider that former Red Sox shortstop Edgar Renteria, despite having a down year in 2005, finished with exactly 100 runs scored while hitting in front of Ortiz and Ramirez.

Loretta, with a career on-base percentage of .365 and a batting average of .301, figures to be a scoring machine in front of the boppers.

"On a tough year [in 2005], he hit .280," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "On a good year, he may be up there with the league leaders in batting average and things like that. Depending on the health of our lineup, it looks to me like he'll be a real successful [No. 2] hitter for us. Again, we'll see how those things play out. But I think he'll be really good."

Because Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is a huge fan of players who get on base, Loretta had been on his radar in previous seasons. If things had worked out differently, Loretta could have been arriving for his fourth season as a member of the Red Sox on Wednesday instead of as a newcomer.

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