Guthrie Is Left With Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox signed left-handed reliever Mark Guthrie to a two-year, $3.2-million contract Saturday, trying to shore up a pitching staff that lost four left-handers to free agency.

Guthrie became a free agent after spending 3 1/2 seasons with the Dodgers. Last season, he was 2-1 with a 3.50 earned-run average in 53 relief appearances and gave up three homers in 54 innings.

Since last season, Boston lost three left-handed starters, Pete Schourek to Pittsburgh, Steve Avery to Cincinnati and Butch Henry to Seattle, and one left-handed reliever, Greg Swindell to Arizona.

Guthrie, 33, will receive $1.6 million each of the next two years, the same amount he made in Los Angeles last season.

“I enjoyed the game in the National League a lot,” he said. “I enjoy the cities in the American League a lot better.”

He said he had no contact with the Dodgers after the season and is hoping to pitch more than he did for them.

“I ran into a situation in L.A. where we had a lot of good pitchers in the bullpen,” said Guthrie, who expects to continue in the setup role he had with the Dodgers. “It’s hard to find a durable guy in that role.”

He joins Tom Gordon, Derek Lowe and Jim Corsi in a bullpen that has lost Swindell and Dennis Eckersley, who retired after the Red Sox decided not to re-sign him.

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Mark McGwire is Time magazine’s Hero of the Year.

“What a year he brought to the nation,” Time said of the St. Louis Cardinal slugger’s record 70 home runs.

The magazine said “one of the few transgressions experienced by McGwire” was when an Associated Press sportswriter found a bottle of androstenedione in his locker.

“Androstenedione only helps me get though my workout throughout the season,” McGwire told Time.

“By no means does it help you hit a baseball. People think it’s a drug. It’s not a drug. It does not help Mark McGwire hit home runs. Mark McGwire’s hand-eye coordination was given by the man upstairs.”

McGwire shattered Roger Maris’ 37-year-old record of 61 homers.