BOSTON (AP) – Mired in mediocrity, the slugging Boston Red Sox are trying a new approach: hitting fewer balls off the Green Monster and catching more in their gloves.

The morning after trading two-time batting champion Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs, they trailed the New York Yankees by 81/2 games in the AL East and Texas by one game in the wild-card race despite outstanding hitting.

“We were not going to win the World Series with our defense the way it was,” general manager Theo Epstein said shortly after Saturday’s trade deadline.

On Sunday in Minnesota, the Red Sox went into their first game with Gold Glove winners Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz both on the roster. The team led the majors in on-base percentage at .358 and was tied for second in batting average at .280.

They also were third in the AL with a 4.13 ERA.

But they were 12th out of the 14 teams in their league with a .979 fielding percentage.

Last year, the Red Sox repeatedly hit balls off the Green Monster in left field and set major league records for extra-base hits, total bases and slugging percentage. But they lost Game 7 of the AL championship series to the Yankees.

With first baseman Mientkiewicz, obtained from Minnesota, and Cabrera, formerly with Montreal, replacing Garciaparra at shortstop, the pitchers should get more help – especially struggling sinkerballer Derek Lowe – when groundballs are handled cleanly.

Add second baseman Pokey Reese, now on the disabled list, to the lineup and Boston can put three Gold Glove winners in the infield at the same time, with Bill Mueller solid at third base.

“I think we can play defense with anyone,” Epstein said.

“We know we’re getting a good shortstop. We just got a very good defensive first baseman,” center fielder Johnny Damon said in Minnesota. “Only time will tell. You have to be ready to play in Boston and, hopefully, the guys we brought over will be ready.”

The Red Sox have long been a team known for outstanding hitters – Tris Speaker, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, Manny Ramirez and Garciaparra.

The Red Sox had four of the last five AL batting champions – Garciaparra in 1999 and 2000, Ramirez in 2002 and Mueller in 2003 – but finished second to the Yankees in the AL East each year in that span and lost to them twice in the AL championship series.

“As hard as it is” to trade Garciaparra, Boston manager Terry Francona said, “I think we all believe this makes us a better club.”

Still, it will be shocking to see Garciaparra in a different uniform.

“They just traded Mr. Boston, a guy that meant so much to the city,” Damon said.

Garciaparra was batting .321 – more than 70 points higher than Mientkiewicz and Cabrera – with five homers and 21 RBIs in 38 games at the time of the trade. He missed the first 57 games with Achilles’ tendinitis, a condition which flared up recently.

The Red Sox didn’t think they could re-sign Garciaparra after this season, when he can become a free agent.

“We weren’t going to let this thing play out and get nothing at the end of the year for a player the stature of Nomar Garciaparra,” team president Larry Lucchino said.

Cabrera also can be a free agent after the season but wouldn’t cost as much as Garciaparra.

The pressure of playing in a passionate baseball town also falls on outfielder Dave Roberts, who the Red Sox obtained on Saturday from Los Angeles for Triple-A outfielder Henri Stanley.

Roberts brings speed, something else the Red Sox traditionally have lacked. He has 33 steals in 34 attempts this year compared to Boston’s team total of 40 when the trade was made.

He’s also a good fielder, having played center field for the Dodgers but should see more time in right as a late-inning replacement for Kevin Millar, who moves from first base, and as an occasional starter.

“We’re a well-rounded club” after the trade, Epstein said. “We’ve turned a weakness of our team defense into a strength.”

At the end of April, the Red Sox were 15-6 with a three-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East.

But they were just 41-40 over the next three months and, at the end of July, trailed New York by 81/2 games, an 111/2-game turnaround.

“It’s with mixed emotions that we see Nomar go,” Epstein said, but, “we were a .500 club for three months.”

AP-ES-08-01-04 1608EDT