ANAHEIM, Calif. – The rumors were flying Thursday: Jason Varitek was going to get his start.

It was being whispered throughout Angels Stadium leading into the opening game of the American League Division Series that Red Sox manager Terry Francona was ready veer from a path most everybody believed he had locked onto. The captain would be Josh Beckett’s battery-mate once again.

Not so much.

After the Red Sox’ series’ opening, 5-0 loss to the Angels, Victor Martinez stood in front of his locker and matter-of-factly answered the third question thrown his way: “Are you going to catch Josh Beckett tomorrow?”

"They definitely told me today," Martinez said. “I wasn't really sure if I was going to catch him."

Martinez had been given the news by bench coach Brad Mills, who also confirmed to third baseman Mike Lowell following the game that he would also be in the lineup. (Although Lowell said he fully expected to start Game 2 well before getting the news from Mills.)

Varitek, meanwhile, roamed the locker room, drenched in his usual bags of ice while wearing a very business-like expression. His role would remain the same – that of clubhouse captain and backup backstop.

As fascinating as the artificially-induced drama was, there was no other choice. Anything but playing Martinez simply didn’t make sense, and finding reasons why it might be a reasonable thought would be nothing more than a misguided expedition.

Before getting into the reasons why Martinez’ presence in the lineup Friday night was perhaps the single-most important penciling in of a player all season, understand why there shouldn’t have been this drama.

Besides the fact that if Varitek starts, that means there is no backup catcher sitting in the Red Sox’ dugout thanks to the team’s decision to keep two catchers, there was a more potent sign that Martinez was now Beckett’s battery-mate. Tuesday, for the first time all season, the switch-hitting catcher caught Beckett during the pitcher’s bullpen session.

Typically, during the season there isn’t the opportunity for the starting catcher to serve as the backstop for their pitcher during the hurler’s side sessions because a real game is typically just a few hours away. But with the two California off days, an opportunity was presented.

"You can the movement of his pitches,” Martinez said of the benefits of getting the extra work with Beckett. “I always say, the more you get to work with a guy, the more comfortable you get. It was good that I got to work with him a little more."

The side session was simply the punctuation on the process that began with Martinez’ ill-fated introduction to catching Beckett Aug. 18 in Toronto.

The path to Friday night truly got going on Sept. 23 in Kansas City when Martinez started his current run of catching Beckett. The two would hook up once more in the regular season, last Saturday. Now, as we sit on the precipice of the duo’s ultimate test, opponents are hitting .373 against Beckett with Martinez catching.

Not ideal, but part of a necessary process.

David Ortiz said of the confidence he has in his pitcher, Friday night, by echoing, “He’s our ace, why wouldn’t want that?” Well, Martinez is the Red Sox’ offensive equivalent. Since arriving with the Red Sox, the catcher is hitting .336 while Varitek has .134 batting clip during that same span of time.

In terms of the here and the now, Martinez is 3-for-8 against the Angels’ Game 2 starter, Jered Weaver, while Lowell is 5-for-16, Ortiz is 7-for-20, and Varitek? He’s 3-for-12. Did I mention that the captain has a .220 on-base percentage since Aug. 1?

And it’s not like Martinez can’t function behind the plate, either. Sure, the Angels will run on him. (They tried just one stolen base Thursday night, when Bobby Abreu took off just before Torii Hunter’s three-run homer.) But they would run on Varitek, as well.

Martinez’s reputation when it comes catching is that his arm is unreliable, but he takes great pride in the craft. He is willing to put his body on the line (which was on display when blocking the plate in the seventh inning, Thursday night), and there is a willingness to do the homework.

Prior to Thursday night, Martinez had caught while playing against the Angels just one other time this season, ironically when LA was going up against Weaver. The results were uneven as the Angels scored three runs in the third and four in the eighth for a 7-6 victory over Martinez’ Indians.

It was part of the education. Now comes the test, one the Red Sox had no choice but to administer, and one that Martinez can’t afford to fail. And while it took Beckett and Varitek until June their first year together, in ’06, to truly find their happy place, all involved know this partnership is on a much faster track.

“It’s way more fun catching [Beckett],” Martinez said, “than hitting against him.”