FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Terry Francona isn’t worried being second guessed in his first year managing in front of Boston’s passionate fans.

If a decision he makes doesn’t work, “I’ll have a reason, even if I have to make one up,” he said Thursday.

Francona won’t have many easy alibis for a Red Sox team that led the majors in hitting last season then added two of baseball’s best pitchers, Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke.

Their hitting was so good that they could allow free agent Todd Walker to leave and be replaced by Pokey Reese, a much weaker hitter but one of the game’s best defensive second basemen.

“We came within five outs of the World Series last year and I think in the offseason we’ve made our club a little bit better balanced, a little deeper,” general manager Theo Epstein said.

Because there are few jobs to be won, only 52 players will be in training camp, four fewer than last year.

Schilling and Foulke showed up this week, several days ahead of Saturday’s first official workout for pitchers and catchers.

Schilling, who teamed with Randy Johnson in Arizona’s rotation when the Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series, would love to win another title as part of a one-two punch with Pedro Martinez.

“Physically, I feel fantastic,” said Schilling who was limited to 24 games last year by a broken right hand. “I love the thought that people are counting on me to be a huge part of winning a world championship.”

He brushed off the impact of Alex Rodriguez’s acquisition from Texas by the Yankees rather than the Red Sox, who pursued him for two months late last year.

“If one player stops us from winning the world championship, it wasn’t meant to be anyway,” Schilling said.

Epstein is confident that Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez won’t be affected by efforts to trade them during the offseason.

Last year, the Red Sox led the majors with a .289 batting average and 961 runs and finished second with 238 homers. Their .491 slugging percentage set a major-league record.

They also had Martinez, who led the AL in ERA for the fourth time in six seasons with Boston at 2.22. The acquisition of Schilling allows Derek Lowe and Tim Wakefield to drop a notch in the rotation and gives Byung-Hyun Kim a chance to convert from a reliever in the No. 5 starting slot.

“I’m excited about this team,” Francona said, “like you can’t believe.”

The bullpen is stronger than last spring training, when the Red Sox tried to go without a full-time closer. Now they have proven veterans Mike Timlin, Alan Embree and Scott Williamson to go with Foulke.

“We have defined roles and we have good players in those roles,” Embree said.

Francona succeeds Grady Little, who was let go after two seasons and after his team blew a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning and lost the seventh game of the AL championship series to the Yankees 6-5 in 11 innings.

Little was liked by his players but didn’t share management’s strong reliance on statistics to make on-field decisions.

The players “don’t have to hide the fact that they had a good year or they liked their manager or guys that were here that aren’t here,” Francona said “That would be wrong.”

Both are considered players’ managers, although Francona has a more enthusiastic personality. More importantly, how do they differ in running a game?

Little was criticized for leaving Martinez in when the Yankees tied Game 7 in the eighth. Francona said he wasn’t watching that game.

“I was at a girl’s volleyball game,” he said, “and I’m sticking to that.”

He said his lineup could change during the season but he has plenty of hard-hitting options. Bill Mueller won the AL batting title, six players hit at least 25 homers and seven drove in at least 85 runs.

“If things go according to plan, we’re going to score a healthy number more than we allow,” Epstein said, “and that’s how you win games.”

AP-ES-02-19-04 1927EST