"Upon hearing last Sunday that Erik Bedard had been traded to the Red Sox, Mark Lambert immediately recalled a conversation over dinner with the left-hander a few years ago.

"I remember him saying, 'I like Boston. I could see myself playing there. I'm sure it would be a lot of fun,'?" Lambert, Bedard's former coach at Norwalk (Conn.) Community College, said by phone yesterday. "That was the first thing I thought of. It's pretty neat that he ended up there."

Almost as neat as the way Lambert discovered Bedard.

In need of a catcher, Lambert contacted a player from a small town in Ontario who had been recommended by a friend. And two days before Roch Sequin was set to visit Norwalk and try out, he asked Lambert if he could bring his friend, a 5-foot-11 pitcher.

"He was a really young-looking kid, but he was a left-hander and he threw at about 82 tops," Lambert said. "But I offered him a spot on the team, and he just got better."

Bedard slightly disputes that story.

"I topped out at 78," he said with a smile.

Lambert will be at Fenway Park tonight when Bedard makes his Red Sox debut in the series finale against the Cleveland Indians. Because it will be only his second start since a month-long stint on the disabled list with the Seattle Mariners, Bedard will be limited to about 75-80 pitches, according to manager Terry Francona.

Bedard is effectively taking injured Clay Buchholz' spot in the rotation, and like Buchholz, he followed a slow start with a strong middle of the season before getting injured.

In April, Bedard went 1-4 with a 5.96 ERA; Buchholz went 1-3 with a 5.33 ERA. Over his next 10 starts, Bedard was 3-2 with a 1.82 ERA; Buchholz was 5-0 with a 2.59 ERA in his last nine starts."