FORT MYERS, Fla. – Mike Lowell had doubts moments like Friday night might ever come, but they had little to do with his surgically-repaired right hip.

Lowell was fully aware of the scenario -- Mark Teixeira playing in the Red Sox home whites at City of Palms Park on March 13 and not having to forgo a three-hour bus trip from Tampa. With the fall-out of such a circumstance likely leading to Lowell making a spring training debut in either another uniform, or with a drastically different comfort level.

He knew the good of Friday night, and all that went with it, could have been derailed. But, as he pointed out following his first spring training game playing both offense and defense, it wasn’t.

“I think my focus was so much trying to get my hip ready that I really didn’t think, ‘Oh, my last at-bat’ and stuff like that,” Lowell said. “I was focused on the right things. Was I in tune to the talk? Sure. But it was in the past before I got to spring training and was in the past when I got to spring training. It’s something that came and went and it’s not really a big deal for me right now.”

What this did was finally offer some sense of certainty to what has been Lowell’s very uncertain world.

He fielded a ground ball. He hit a home run. He ran the bases a bit. All of this a few days ahead of schedule, and all of this in a Boston Red Sox uniform.

“I think it’s a nice step to where I want to be,” he said, sitting in the Sox clubhouse while icing the much talked about hip. “Did I feel good at the plate? Absolutely. I feel really comfortable and I feel like I’m seeing the ball good. I’m doing everything they tell me to do to play a full season. I’m not satisfied with just being on the field. I want to put up numbers and I want to go to a World Series. That’s what I want to do.”

Perhaps that was the most defining part of Friday night for Lowell, the chance to look forward to big numbers and big moments instead of surgeries, trade rumors, and days upon days of rehab.

There was gratification in analyzing every nook and cranny of his night. How it was nice to cleanly field that hard grounder off the bat of Xavier Nady in the first inning, and subsequently spin it into an inning-ending double play. Or the homer over the left field wall in the following frame off Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang. 

“As much as I like my defense I’ll take a home run every time,” he said. “I was very satisfied I felt strong the whole time I was out there.”

Even the gratification that came with not chasing an 0-2 pitch offered enthusiasm. The fielding and home run trot were the priorities, but knowing that 3 ½ weeks of drills and batting practice had put Lowell in a good place at the plate supplied the evening’s proper punctuation.

As Red Sox manager Terry Francona noted after the game, “He doesn’t want to not play.” And that’s why last night – on March 12 – Mike Lowell played (as a member of the Boston Red Sox, to boot).

“There’s definitely a payoff,” said Lowell of his night, which ended after four innings and also included a single up the middle off of New York reliever Brett Tomko. “Even the first day I reported to camp, playing in a game seemed a long way away. I don’t wan't to downplay it but I don’t want to say this is a major accomplishment. This is a nice step to where I want to get to.  I’m glad it’s come as early as it has. At first it was mid to late March, then it went to mid March, and now we’re before that, putting in some really good at-bats. But I did envision being in this position.”

Rob Bradford is the Site Editor for WEEI.com. He can be reached at rbradford@weei.com.