Ortiz: Peace of Mind

David Ortiz has a clear head. Over the winter, he took care of some "personal stuff ... a lot of things that I had to correct" -- nothing more specific than that -- and now he says his "mind is free".

I haven't felt like this for a while. ... Baseball is a very complicated business so you have to make sure your mind is clear so you can think about what you're doing. So this offseason I tried to fix everything that I could think of. ...

I can enjoy baseball now. What a difference. I don't even have my cell phone with me. That's your No. 1 enemy, your cell phone. ...

[Y]ou don't pay attention to little things and they accumulate slowly. ... [N]ext thing you know you've got all that on top of you. Then people look at you and it seems you have a big old monkey on your back. Not anymore.

The flu virus has struck a few more players, including J.D. Drew and Jon Lester (who will likely miss his start on Sunday). Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury have also been hit.

Adrian Gonzalez took 80 swings yesterday.

I have plenty of time and I'm going to get into plenty of games ... I'm not going to push myself more than I have to.

Felix Doubront will toss a ball today. ... Jed Lowrie played first base last night against the Yankees, getting ready for a super-sub role this year.

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, on the Red Sox: "This is the best club in baseball. The combination of speed, power, pitching, bullpen, they're a hell of a ballclub. Don't have a whole lot of holes."

Today: Split-squad games vs the Marlins (with Matsuzaka starting) and at the Orioles (Alfredo Aceves will start).