by By SEAN McADAM , The Boston Herald

BALTIMORE - Mark Kotsay, lounging on a couch in the Oriole Park visiting clubhouse last night after the Red Sox' 4-0 shutout of Baltimore, couldn't resist the chance to tweak Terry Francona.

``What's so hard about being a manager?'' he wondered aloud, a sly smile across his face.

Indeed, last night the Red Sox made the job look easy. After Francona reshuffled the top of the lineup - installing J.D. Drew in the leadoff spot and dropping Dustin Pedroia back down to his customary No. 2 spot - the offense responded quickly.

Drew tripled to lead off the game and scored on Pedroia's RBI single to center for the first run of the night. Three innings later, Drew blasted a two-run homer en route to a three-hit night while Pedroia reached base three times.

``You know what I'm going to take credit for? Having good players,'' Francona said. ``That got a little bit of a reaction in the dugout in the first inning, as you can imagine.''

``It seems like every time (Francona) mixes it up, we do something good for him,'' said Pedroia, who had hit just .214 in the leadoff spot during 24 games and seemed to lack his usual aggressiveness at the plate.

The Drew-Pedroia combination delivered an early run of support for starter Jon Lester (7-6) and set the tone for the evening.

``Especially with our pitching staff,'' Pedroia said, ``if we get those guys some runs, we're a tough team to beat because those guys, they're going to give you six, seven innings every time. That worked for us tonight. We gave him some runs and Jon just dealt.''

Lester tossed seven shutout innings, allowing five singles but never permitting a baserunner past second. He struck out eight to move into second place in that category among AL pitchers and won for the fourth time in his past five decisions.

Since May 31, Lester is 4-1 with an ERA of 1.80 and is invoking comparisons to the magical four-month run he had last season when he blossomed into one of the league's elite starters.

``It took him awhile to get into that feeling,'' said Francona, who singled out an improved curveball as one of the reasons for the recent turnaround.

``I was able to get some curveballs away from guys and make them reach for it,'' Lester said. ``It's huge - it gives them a different look, something slower that's coming down and in. It just complements the fastball and makes the fastball look that much harder.''

Lineup adjustments aside, perhaps the outcome shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. The Sox are 5-0 against Baltimore this season and Lester is 8-0 against the Orioles in his career.

The O's didn't threaten much at all until the ninth, when a two-out single by Ty Wigginton and a walk to Melvin Mora against Ramon Ramirez put the potential tying run in the on-deck circle. But Jonathan Papelbon came on to get the final out, with a huge assist from Jason Bay who went sprawling on the outfield grass in shallow left to pick off a blooper by rookie phenom Matt Wieters.

The save, Papelbon's 19th in 20 opportunities this season, tied him with Bob Stanley for the most career saves (132) by a Red Sox pitcher.

- smcadam@bostonherald.com

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