Josh Stevens knew something was up.

The right-hander started out throwing an inning. He was then stretched out to three, a lot for a relief pitcher and especially unusual in spring training.

It was then Red Sox minor league coordinator Ben Cherington approached him.

“He asked me what I thought about being a starter,” said Stevens. “I was all for it. You get a lot more innings.”

Although he had previously been a starter in high school and college, the California native had started just four times in 170 appearances since turning pro in 1998.

For Stevens, the biggest adjustment hasn’t been throwing more innings each outing or pitching out of the wind-up, it’s been getting into a routine the days in between starts. “I don’t want to say it’s boring, but you get anxious because you want to throw again,” said Stevens. “It’s just a long four days.”

Portland pitching coach Bob Kipper, who saw both ends of the spectrum during his eight seasons in the big leagues, says taking on the mindset of a starting pitcher takes some time.

“I always say that the structure of being a reliever is that there is no structure,” said Kipper. “You have to be ready to go every day unless I tell you that you have the day off because you threw 50 pitches the day before.

“With a starting pitcher, it’s all about preparation and what you do to get yourself ready in between starts.”

Stevens’ biggest problem at first was that he was getting warmed up too quickly.

“When I was in the bullpen, I was ready after five or six pitches,” said Stevens. “My first time out (April 12 in Trenton), I was standing around. I was ready to go. I had to learn to slow it down.”

Stevens was part of the Norwich team that won the Eastern League title last season. He went 1-1 with 3.83 earned run average but never heard from the Yankees in the off-season. Then, the day before his wedding (Nov. 1, 2002) the Red Sox called. Stevens signed with Boston a little over two weeks later.

“I was getting a little nervous,” Stevens said. “The Yankees hadn’t called and I thought I had had a good year. Nobody was calling and then out of the blue I heard from the Red Sox.”

“We signed him originally thinking about using him out of the bullpen,” said Cherington, who recalled seeing Stevens pitch in the South Atlantic League three years ago. But after seeing him in spring training, we felt given the assortment of pitches he had and his ability to throw them for strikes and his relative youth, let’s give him a chance to start.”

Painful memories

Catcher Jeff Smith joined the Sea Dogs in Binghamton last week to begin rehabbing a left knee injury suffered in spring training.

The 28-year old spent the better part of six seasons with New Britain before being signed to a minor league contract by the Red Sox last November.

Sea Dogs fans might remember Smith for a violent home plate collision he had with Portland catcher Matt Treanor back in April of 2001. The play resulted in Treanor missing close to three months with an ankle injury.

Smith was also in the Rock Cats line-up when Josh Beckett made his Double-A debut a couple of months later. He was the only batter Beckett didn’t strike out in his first time through the order, although he might wish he had fanned. Smith was hit by a pitch from Beckett in apparent retaliation for running over Treanor.

Smith will be returned to Triple-A Pawtucket this week.

Who’s on first?

Kevin Youkilis continues to get on base at an astonishingly high rate.

The Sea Dogs third baseman has reached safely in all 13 games heading into today’s doubleheader. He has been aboard 29 times in his last 44 plate appearances and is second in the Eastern League with a .525 on-base percentage.

Youkilis is also ninth in the league in hitting with a .341 average.

Around the minor leagues

Reading’s Marlon Byrd made his return to the Eastern League a memorable one for Phillies’ fans. Byrd, on a rehab assignment from the Philadelphia Phillies, belted a walk-off home run leading off the bottom of the 14th inning as Reading topped Harrisburg 9-8 Thursday night.Trenton pitcher Javier Ortiz has been suspended for three games and fined $300 for throwing at Binghamton’s Rodney Nye three times in a game last week. Ortiz, who said he tried to hit Nye after the Mets’ third baseman pointed his bat at him after almost being hit by the first pitch of the at-bat, began serving the suspension Friday and will not miss a start.It was a busy week for former Sea Dog Claudio Vargas. Vargas was named EL Pitcher of the Week after going 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA for Harrisburg. The right-hander was then promoted to Triple-A Edmonton, but before he could report he was summoned by the Montreal Expos where he made his major league debut on Saturday against Houston.Another former Portland pitcher, Brent Billingsley, was released by the Phillies. Billingsley was the Opening Day starter for Reading.Maine native and NASCAR Winston Cup driver Ricky Craven will throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Wednesday night’s game against Reading.

Bill Foley is assistant sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]