By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

PAWTUCKET – With all the player personnel moves happening on a daily basis in Boston, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the Pawtucket Red Sox are trying to win games down here at McCoy Stadium.

Take Thursday as an example. Pawtucket’s 4-2 loss to Syracuse seemed like a footnote to the news that Boston third baseman Mike Lowell will begin a weekend rehab stint with the PawSox tonight, serving as a designated hitter in the series finale against the Chiefs.
While Charlie Zink tried to fool Syracuse batters with his elusive knuckleball on a windy afternoon at McCoy, future PawSox pitcher Justin Masterson made his major league debut at Fenway Park, tossing six innings of impressive one-run ball against the Los Angeles Angels. Masterson, who dominated the Eastern League in four starts with Portland, could very well join Pawtucket in the very near future. What’s left to learn in Portland after the 6-foot-6 righthander has shown he can handle the Angels?
The PawSox know their role well in this shuttle system between Boston, Pawtucket and Portland. They are the developmental center, a refining factory for players on their way to the big leagues.
One wonders, though, how some of the PawSox prospects who haven’t received an invite to Boston are dealing with seeing several of their teammates head to Boston, if only for a week or two.
“I’m happy with where I am right now,” PawSox catcher George Kottaras was saying in the locker room after Thursday’s game ended. Kottaras contributed a line-drive single that could have tied the game in the 7th inning and also nailed a runner trying to steal third base in the 8th inning.
Kottaras, who came over in the David Wells deal with San Diego two Septembers ago, went into Thursday’s action as the International League leader in home runs (six) and RBI (17). Yet he has seen two of his fellow catchers in Pawtucket – Kevin Cash and Dusty Brown – promoted to Boston this season.
“I guess I’ve been a little inconsistent so far,” Kottaras, 24, said pleasantly while sitting in front of his locker. “I would hope I get called up if I keep improving. I’m really still learning the game. I didn’t start playing baseball until I was 15 years old. Until then, I had concentrated on fast-pitch softball.”
Kottaras initially had been projected as a possible replacement for Jason Varitek, whose contract runs out after the 2008 season ends. The lefthanded swinger had a slow start in Pawtucket last year before coming on strong and now has begun this season with good power numbers. He’s hitting .261 with a .594 slugging percentage.
Boston’s player development people believe the Arizona native will hit big league pitching. The question is more about whether he can handle the defensive end of the job. To that end, he caught Zink’s knuckleball for six innings on Thursday without a miscue and went 1-for-2 throwing out potential basestealers.
Kottaras doesn’t pay much attention to people who downgrade his defensive skills.
“What have you heard?” he asked with a smile. But it is Boston’s decision to promote the hitting-challenged Cash and Brown over Kottaras that speaks more clearly on this subject than any innuendo written by sports writers over the past year.
“I’m glad I am here,” Kottaras reiterated. “I have no worries about my progress. I know this is a business. I got traded here. This is a good opportunity for me and I have to keep working hard.”
Kottaras came up in the 7th inning with the PawSox trailing, 3-2. Jonathan Van Every had walked with one out and moved to second when Jeff Bailey, the leadoff hitter, worked a free pass to first base off hard-throwing Tracy Thorpe, who was then pulled for lefthanded reliever Mike Gosling, a former big leaguer brought in to neutralize Kottaras.
Kottaras fell into a 1-2 count against Gosling, then lined a shot off third baseman Sergio Santos’s glove. The ball was hit so hard that it deflected up into the air and landed 30 feet behind the infield. Van Every had to hesitate to make sure Santos did not catch the liner, otherwise he would have been doubled off second to end the inning.
Instead of tying the game, the PawSox had the bases loaded with one out and Chris Carter coming to the plate and Brandon Moss on deck.
“I’ll think about that play 100 times, like I do every key play in a game,” PawSox manager Ron Johnson said. “The base runner’s reaction is to freeze for a second. Then the ball pops out of the glove and I don’t have a good depth perception of how far it’s going into the outfield from where I am standing. But with my No. 3 and 4 hitters coming up and only one out, I’m going to hold the runner at third base every time.”
Carter rapped into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat for Pawtucket, which went down quietly in the final two frames as Gosling got the last eight outs.
“They made the pitches when it counted,” Johnson said. “We had our opportunities. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other team.”

EXTRA BASES: Zink scattered nine hits and didn’t walk a batter over six innings. Losing pitcher Abe Alvarez got two outs in the 7th before allowing a base hit. Dan Kolb took over and let the go-ahead run come in when he was touched for opposite-field singles by Adam Lind and Chip Cannon, who not only knocked in the game-winner but delivered a solo homer in his three-hit day at the plate … Mike Lowell, coming back from a sprained left thumb, will travel with the PawSox to Buffalo and play third base on Saturday and then DH on Sunday before joining Boston on Monday … The homestand ends tonight when Chris Smith (0-2, 2.40) hurls for Pawtucket against Kane Davis (2-1, 2.78) in a 7:05 p.m. start at McCoy.