Scott Williamson relishes his role with the Red Sox.

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -Scott Williamson wants to be a closer again. He wants to be with the Boston Red Sox even more.

They signed Keith Foulke to finish games after Williamson went 2-0 with three saves in last year’s playoffs, but he decided to stay with a team of good guys and great potential.

“I’m the closer in the eighth inning now. That’s the way I look at it,” Williamson said, “but for me to be a part of what happened last year, that’s what I want to do again. That was so much fun.”

He could have pushed to leave. General manager Theo Epstein offered to trade him if he wished to remain a closer. But Williamson wanted to stay after Epstein and others helped him through a difficult time.

His mind clear, Williamson is off to a good start in spring training. He feels fine and, in two appearances, has allowed one run in two innings.

But last season was tough.

He was the NL rookie of the year with Cincinnati in 1999 but prepared himself to be traded last year by a team trying to control expenses. Still, when the Red Sox obtained him last July 29, it wasn’t easy being dealt for the first time.

And his wife was hospitalized with bleeding problems after giving birth to their first son four days earlier. Epstein was understanding.

“He did everything he could for me,” Williamson said. “He said, ‘If you want to, take some days off, get your mind straight. We need you out there pitching.”‘

Williamson joined the Red Sox before his wife, Lisa, recovered fully. Then his son, Scott Reece, developed viral meningitis, he said. They’re fine now, Williamson said, “but it was tough to go to the park and play every day.”

He had a 6.20 ERA in 20 1-3 innings with Boston, but excelled in the playoffs after a late-season talk with pitching coach Tony Cloninger.

“I explained that I’d been through adversity,” said Cloninger, who was battling bladder cancer but has improved. “He was trying to do so well that I think he was just overwhelmed with everything. He felt comfortable talking to me.”

Williamson pitched in all five games of the AL division series against Oakland, throwing five shutout innings. In the AL championship series, he saved all three wins against the New York Yankees.

“Getting the opportunity to close out games in Yankee Stadium, it was like a dream come true,” Williamson said. “Probably the most nervous I’ve ever been was sitting on the bench waiting to go. Once I got out there I was fine.”

He never got into the seventh game that Boston lost 6-5 on Aaron Boone’s 11th-inning homer.

Had he pitched the 11th instead of Tim Wakefield, he would have faced his friend and former teammate, Boone.

“I probably wouldn’t have thought about it,” Williamson said. “After the game I’d give him a call and, if he got me, he’d probably call me.”

He feels badly that Boone suffered a serious knee injury playing basketball, but that led to the Yankees obtaining Alex Rodriguez to play third base in his place.

“He got us twice. He got us in Game 7. Now he got us again by getting A-Rod over there,” Williamson said with a smile. “I’ve got to get hold of him and tell him ‘quit doing that stuff.”‘

Now he’s hoping for a smoother and more successful season as part of a skilled, seasoned bullpen.

“That’s one of the big reasons why I’m here,” Foulke said. “This will probably be the first time in my career when I’ve had bullpen mates that have all closed games.”

Some day, Williamson may do it again, but he’s happy now.

“I’ve never seen so many superstars together in one clubhouse with the attitudes they have. They welcome you like you’ve been here forever,” he said. “I want to be part of this family. I want to be part of it when they win the World Series.”

AP-ES-03-15-04 1649EST