HOUSTON — Mike Cameron will draw the opening day start in right field for the Boston Red Sox Friday against the Texas Rangers, manager Terry Francona announced Thursday morning.

The right-handed hitting Cameron will play instead of J.D. Drew, in a concession by Francona to the presence of left-hander C.J. Wilson on the mound for the Rangers.

Wilson held left-handed hitters to a .144 average last season, the lowest for a starting pitcher (minimum 150 innings) in the past 35 seasons. Drew is 1 for 6 in his career against Wilson, but he is not alone among Red Sox hitters who have struggled against the southpaw.

Newcomer Carl Crawford, who also bats from the left side, is 2 for 15 (.133), and David Ortiz is 1 for 10 (.100). Drew was in the opening day lineup three times in his first four seasons with the Red Sox. He missed in 2008 because of back spasms. Brandon Moss played right field in his place.

“This is not a platoon,” Francona said. “J.D. knows that.”

Here’s Friday’s lineup:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF

2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B

3. Carl Crawford, LF

4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B

5. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B

6. David Ortiz, DH

7. Mike Cameron, RF

8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C

9. Marco Scutaro, SS

SP — Jon Lester, LHP

Scutaro, Crawford and Youkilis are the only Red Sox players with as many as two hits off Wilson. Crawford has the only home run. Youkilis has the highest average (2 for 7, .286).

Cameron is hitless in three at-bats against Wilson, with two strikeouts. Saltalamacchia is 0 for 2, while Gonzalez and Ellsbury each have faced Wilson just once, and did not get a hit.

Gordon Edes covers the Red Sox for ESPNBoston.com.

Follow Gordon Edes on Twitter: @GordonEdes

For the first time in a long time, the Boston Red Sox [team stats] know what it feels like to be the New York Yankees. From Opening Day until all the issues are settled, they will be the hunted and not the hunter.

For some years now, the Sox have been consistently in the mix in the AL East, assembling rosters the envy of most of their peers. As even the pink hats know, twice in the last seven seasons they finished in the winner’s circle, yet if we’re honest about it, each new spring they were seen as part of the pack, not the team being pursued by one.

It is one thing to be in the conversation and quite another to already have been handed the World Series trophy before a single game is played. With the former, comes confidence. With the latter, comes dry throat.

That is the situation the Red Sox find themselves in as a new spring (we hope) approaches and it’s not necessarily the place you want to be because the air is thin where the Sox are and every arrow is aimed in their direction.

Buck Showalter already has lost his mind just thinking about them. The Evil Empire has Red Sox-roster envy. No one in Tampa even remembers the Rays won the division a year ago. From such a place every game becomes either proof of the coronation to come or hints of disaster lurking around the corner.

There is self-imposed pressure, which all successful people flourish under, and then there’s the potentially smothering pressure of other people’s expectations. The former is to be expected. The latter is not the most comfortable environment in which to work.

The Sox are in this position because they have put together potentially the best lineup of the Theo Era, the best starting pitching of the Tito Era and the best bullpen since Dick Radatz made it two “Monsters” in Fenway Park [map], not one.

Because of that, they are widely predicted to be headed to the World Series, and with good reason. Not only are they better than a year ago — when, had they not been crippled by injuries and surprisingly shaky pitching, they might have made some noise — their opposition is worse.

The Yankees have a fine bullpen and a powerful lineup but on three of every five days getting to the point where that bullpen becomes meaningful will be a struggle. The Sox’ fourth and fifth starters (Josh Beckett [stats] and Daisuke Matsuzaka [stats]) are paid $25 million between them. The Yankees’ fourth and fifth starters are Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova. Enough said.

You need a program to identify the Rays, and while Baltimore is improved and has given the Sox fits recently, this is a two-team race and one looks like Secretariat. Therein lies the Sox’ greatest challenge.

To this point they understand everything said and written about them is white noise. They know they have produced nothing but a buzz, even though sometimes it sounds like every opponent they face should arrive at the ballpark with a white flag in their equipment bag. This has created the kind of expectations that can be difficult to live up to or endure over a long season of inevitable ups and downs.

Playing baseball in Boston is a test of a man’s survival skills and the thickness of his hide. While those of us who hail from these parts feel it a great honor for a ballplayer to play here, it ain’t for everybody. As one frustrated former Sox manager once put it, “They don’t play 162 games in Boston, they play 162 seasons.”

That can wear on you in the best of circumstances and that’s what 2011 is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be the best of circumstances because on paper this is the best team assembled here since Ruth left.

Maybe it will prove to be all it now seems, but how will the weight of those expectations wear on new arrivals Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Bobby Jenks, who are used to playing in less demanding venues and so have no idea what’s coming? No one knows, even if they say they do, which is why, when pressed on the seeming greatness of the 2011 Red Sox this spring, Epstein cited the 2004 team from the end of July on as the best he’s built.

This is a team with big bats, speed, defense, starting pitching up the wazoo and, as WEEI.com’s Alex Speier put it well, “not a closer by committee but a committee of closers.” In other words, these Sox have it all. If people stay healthy — and after last season the medicinal gods owe Francona one on that score — they win 100 games even if the catchers don’t have 100 hits between them. They are what the Yankees used to be.

Now they have to do the hard part: Prove everyone was right about them, knowing if they don’t, the prognosticators won’t blame themselves for being wrong.

HOUSTON – They did look different. Better. Crisper. Ready.

“I love playing a game like this, on the way to somewhere,” Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona said after Wednesday’s 10-0 victory over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Red Sox are on their way to Arlington, Tex., where the defending AL champions await.
The warmup act of 34 Grapefruit League games looked like a casual jog compared to Wednesday’s pick-up-the-pace effort before 25,755 fans.

He had to like how Josh Beckett performed on the bigger stage. Beckett had struggled all spring, insisting he was working on mechanics and was making progress.

Results of that progress were evident. Beckett allowed only an infield hit and a hit batter in five stellar innings.

“We talk all spring about how numbers don’t mean anything, and they don’t,” Francona said after this encouraging Beckett-as-Beckett performance.

“When his fastball has that kind of life, though, it’s fun to watch.”

Francona liked the setting for a lot of reasons.

“I think (a major league atmosphere) helps everybody. We didn’t work out in the morning (as in Florida), and run everybody around.

“The lights are better, it’s a normal day, we come and take batting practice and play.”

A day earlier, the Red Sox had played their final game in Fort Myers, a 1-1 tie with Tampa Bay. It was called after nine innings because teams see no point in wearing out pitchers in games like this.

Before that game, Francona acknowledged that different teams look at getaway exhibition games differently. Some players swing at the first pitch and make a hasty exit – some of the fastest games in baseball are played on the final day of the spring or the regular season.

He said the Red Sox try to treat it as a normal day, to get something worthwhile out of it. They did try, but it’s not easy in that setting.

It was a lot easier in Houston.

Because Beckett is such an intense competitor, questions were asked of whether he needed the major league backdrop to get himself game-ready.

He insisted it was more about mechanics, not emotion.

“I threw a few good changeups and located my fastball. The mechanical adjustments I’ve been making have come a long way,” he said.

And what about pitching before nearly 26,000 fans in a big league city, instead of 8,000 on vacation from the cold weather? Beckett is a local, a pitcher who grew up in Spring, Tex., and had his mother in the crowd Wednesday.

Beckett stuck to his belief that it’s not just about the venue. He believes spring training results in Florida cannot be taken literally, but not for lack of effort.

Some of the parks are a little smaller, he said, and factors such as wind and other variables can produce mediocre results, even when the pitching isn’t too bad.

As much as he focused on the progress of his mechanics, he didn’t quarrel with the satisfaction of better results. Beckett’s 2011 spring training ERA, now frozen in time forever, dropped from 6.64 to 5.33 Wednesday.

“It’s definitely good to go into the next start with more confidence,” he said.

The Sox came out swinging and hustling Wednesday. Jacoby Ellsbury beat out an infield hit to start the game, stole second and scored the first of five Boston runs in the first.

‘The hitters took good swings and worked some good counts,” Francona said. And the pitchers were sharp.

On to Texas. The Red Sox looked ready on Wednesday, when they played like the team they know they can be.

HOUSTON – Before Wednesday night’s exhibition game at Houston, Dustin Pedroia warned about putting too much stock in slow starts, in case his team has one.

The Boston Red Sox then went out and played as if they have no such intention.

In the final tuneup before Friday’s opener at Texas, the Red Sox handed the Astros a 10-0 shellacking at Minute Maid Park. The game did not count, but more so than in Grapefruit League exhibitions, the Sox played as if it did.

The venue and a crowd of 25,755 did provide a major-league atmosphere.

“It’s nice to be in a stadium,” manager Terry Francona said.

Josh Beckett left his struggles of spring training in Florida. In five innings, he struck out three and allowed only two baserunners – an infield single by Brett Wallace in the fifth, and a hit batsman.

Helped by a running catch from right-fielder J.D. Drew in the first, Beckett looked far better than his 6.64 Grapefruit League ERA.

Before the game, Pedroia addressed the runaway expectations associated with this team.

“You want to get off to a good start, of course, but if you don’t, you can’t panic. You have to believe in yourself,” he said.

“As players, we know there are so many games that it’s important to see the big picture.”

The Sox open with six road games. Nine of their first 12 games are against 2010 playoff teams – defending American League champion Texas, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay.

In their final exhibition game, the Red Sox offered a complete, impressive bluerpint of how they hope to perform.

They riddled Nelson Figueroa, Houston’s projected No. 5 starter, for five runs in the first inning. They added three in the fourth.

Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits, two runs, an RBI and a stolen bases as leadoff man. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia also had three hits.

New acquisitions Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez had two hits each. Crawford grew up in Houston, and 70 family and friends attended the game.

Playing first base, Gonzalez showed enormous range to his right. He is ratcheting up his defense, after being cautious following shoulder surgery.

In spring training, Gonzalez did not dive for grounders. He will during the regular season.

“He’d come back to the dugout and say, ‘I’ll get that (later).’ I believe that,” Francona said.

Dennys Reyes, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon followed Beckett with near-flawless relief. Bobby Jenks had a tooth pulled this week and did not pitch, but he will be ready Friday.

Even Dan Butler, a minor leaguer brought along to provide some late-game catching relief, got into the act.

Butler, 24, hit a towering two-run homer in the ninth.

Koby Clemens entered the game for Houston in the eighth inning. The 24-year-old son of Roger Clemens has been a first baseman in the Astros minor league system since 2005, and played in Double A last year.

Francona will announce his Opening Day lineup Thursday in Houston, where the Red Sox will have a workout before headlng to Arlington, Tex.

The Red Sox picked up catcher Mike McKenry from Colorado late Tuesday night, and assigned him to their minor league camp.

McKenry, 26, made his big-league debut last September. He is considered able to handle an emergency callup without impeding the progress of young catching prospects in the Red Sox system.

A long time ago, baseball players used to barnstorm after the season, picking up some extra dough after the major league season had ended.

Now, teams do it practically up to the time they are asked to line up along the foul line for Opening Day. This explains the Boston Red Sox stopover in Houston, where they initially were to play the Astros twice for no reason, before Thursday’s exhibition game was dropped.

A long Grapefruit League season is over, and we are wiser now. The 2011 Red Sox are very good, possibly the best team in baseball.

But possibly not. The runaway expectations of winter need not be discarded, only modified to reflect an awareness that questions do exist.

Josh Beckett. J.D. Drew. Jonathan Papelbon.

The catching, at least from a defensive standpoint. These are my questions; maybe you have others.

Maybe they will all work out in the positive. No doubt, challenges will crop up that we cannot imagine or predict now.

We have 162 games to find out.

In February, I was asked how many games I thought the Sox would win. After due thought, I said 98.

That’s a lot. The Red Sox haven’t won 100 since 1946, yet I was asked, why so low?

It’s because baseball is such a grind that nothing goes perfectly. Best-case scenarios are alluring but misleading.

The 10-game Grapefruit League losing streak that ended Monday means nothing. Except as a reminder that as the only sport contested every single day, baseball is the most unpredictable sport of all.

The starting pitching falls into that category. There is no reason to think Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz won’t be outustanding.

I’ll willing to believe John Lackey will be better than in 2010, however marginally. And count me a member of the Daisuke Matsuzaka defenders’ club, as long as he’s a No. 4 or 5 starter and not a 1 or 2.

That leaves Beckett. He’s healthy, but he’s struggled. We’ll see.

We will see about Papelbon as well. Plan B is probably Bobby Jenks (though the Red Sox purport not to think in such negative terms), but Jenks’ ERA was half a run higher than Papelbon’s last year.

Daniel Bard had a 6.75 ERA this spring. We’ll see.

Drew is a mystery. Mike Cameron looks so spry that a platoon in right seems appealing.

Is Cameron really a young 38, and what can we expect from Drew? We’ll see.

The Red Sox will score a lot of runs. The defense ought to be all right now that the regulars are on the field.

So I stand by my prediction of 98 wins, which is high considering the division offers the prospect of 72 tough games.

Every AL East opponent is a handful. That includes the Orioles, who are putting their house back in order, the pesky Rays and the revamped Blue Jays.

A very special year could be in store. But be happy with 98 wins from a Red Sox team that spent the offseason, looking for solutions but opens the chase with a fair number of questions as well.

HOUSTON – Dustin Pedroia knows enough about slow starts not to worry about them.

“You want to get off to a good start, of course, but we’ve been through it before,” the Boston Red Sox second baseman said before Wednesday’s game at Houston, the last exhibition game before Friday’s opener at Texas.

“But if you don’t, you can’t panic.You have to believe in yourself.

“As players, we know there are so many games that it’s important to see the big picture.”

The Red Sox enter 2011 as a popular pick to win the American League pennant. Pedroia said it’s a mistake basing judgments on the first couple of weeks.

“Last year, we started 4-9,” he said, recalling the alarm bells that went off throughout New England.

For the 68-game stretch that followed, the Red Sox had baseball’s best record. Injuries caught up to them, but they still showed the fallacy of quick judgments.

The Sox open with six road games, then come home to play the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays.

Six of their first nine games are against 2010 playoff teams, starting with Texas, the defending American League champion.

Even a glittering lineup does not guarantee a fast getaway against that type of competition.

Opening Day starting pitcher Jon Lester and designated hitter David Ortiz are notorious for slow starts. But Pedroia used himself as an example that a quiet April can be overcome.

In 2007 he was hitting around .172 on May 1. He finished at .317, and was named AL Rookie of the Year.

“Even my last season in Triple A (2006), and last year, too, I was hitting .240 after 200 at-bats,” he said.

“When I started to hit, I got hot. I wish it could be more consistent, but if you’re going to get 700 plate appearances, you can’t go by 50 at-bats,” he said.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona knows Red Sox fans draw conclusions from early returns.

“Everything will get blown up in the first two weeks. We know that,” he said.

“You lose three straight, and people are ready to jump off a bridge. But the season is a grind, and we just tell the players to remember what’s important.”

Francona said he has not spoken to the players about the drumbeat of expectations, and he won’t.

“I guess that’s what has surprised me about the questions. I can’t remember a year where people didn’t expect us to win,” the eighth-year Red Sox manager said.

Acquiring Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez has galvanized the media and fan base, though. Pedroia understands why.

“They’re two of the best players in baseball, and they’re also team guys, which makes them special,” Pedroia said.

After spending more than six weeks at their spring ballpark in Fort Myers, the Red Sox are anxious to get started for real. Even the exhibition at Minute Maid Park gave them a taste of regular season ball.

“It’s nice to be in a stadium,” Francona said.

He said he will announce his Opening Day lineup Thursday.

The Red Sox picked up catcher Mike McKenry from Colorado late Tuesday night, and assigned him to their minor league camp.

The Rockies received minor league pitcher Daniel Turpin. Red Sox minor league catcher Mark Wagner was designated for assignment.

Francona said McKenry is considered able handle an emergency callup without impeding the progress of young catching prospects the Red Sox have in the minors.

McKenry, 26, played at Triple A last year, with a callup to the Rockies in September.