BOSTON — The field is amazingly green. Baseball is coming.

Forget that Saturday snowstorm. It dropped only two inches on Boston, and snow was nowhere to be found Sunday at Fenway Park. The only noticeable white came from the bases and baselines.

The Red Sox worked out Sunday, preparing for Monday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Game time is 2 p.m., when it is expected to be a brisk, but playable 49 degrees.

That’s quite a contrast from those Florida spring training games in 80-degree weather.

“You know what you’re getting into, coming up here,” said Rick Porcello, the 2016 Cy Young winner who gets the start Monday. “I’m pretty familiar with (the weather), kind of grew up pitching in it my entire life.”

Porcello grew up in New Jersey and then pitched for the Detroit Tigers. What he’s not used to is getting the ball on opening day. His last opening-day start was at Seton Hall Prep High School. But Porcello, who was 22-4 last year, said there is no extra pressure.

“Where our pressure lies is our expectations for ourselves as a team,” he said. “We know (we’ve) got a good ball club and we have to get it done on the field. Those are exciting expectations.”

Manager John Farrell shares the excitement.

“We have high expectation,” Farrell said. “We love the group that’s here. “It’s a very diverse lineup. It’s balanced. There are guys in the rotation that are going to establish what we need on a nightly basis.

“While there are still some moving parts to our roster, this is a team that is certainly built to win.”

The moving parts include a pitching staff that’s missing starter David Price (left elbow strain) and two relievers to begin the season.

But the core of the team will be in uniform Monday, looking to improve on last year when the Red Sox won 93 games but were swept by the Indians in the division series.

“We didn’t play as well as we could have played. We also tip our hats to Cleveland, and how well they played,” Porcello said. “You never want to come up short on your goals, and that’s what hurts about last season.

“But that’s over with. This is a completely different year. We can’t have our minds preset on what we’re going to do in the postseason. We have to go through the entire process, the entire grind of the regular season … nothing is set in stone that we’re going to get back there.

“We have to do the same thing all over again this year. It’s a completely new journey.”

That journey begins at 2 p.m. Monday.

MITCH MORELAND will likely play first base after being quarantined for two days because of the flu. He worked out Sunday. No other players currently have the flu, but assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez and bullpen catcher Mike Brenly were under quarantine.

Moreland’s availability is important, because Hanley Ramirez (shoulder) is limited to the DH role until his ailing shoulder improves.

IN PITCHING NEWS, Stephen Wright threw six innings in an extended spring training game Sunday and is scheduled for Friday’s game in Detroit.

Drew Pomeranz, who is on the disabled list because of a forearm strain, is scheduled to pitch Monday in Fort Myers, Florida and is expected to come off the disabled list for the April 9 game in Detroit.

Price has extended his long-toss program to 110 feet, according to Farrell, who said he would like Price to get to 150 feet before returning to the mound.

BRIAN BUTTERFIELD, who underwent knee replacement surgery in the off-season and spent the winter recuperating at his home in Standish, will be back in the third-base coach’s box Monday. Butterfield spent spring training as the bench coach while still on the mend.

ANEURY TAVAREZ is back with the Red Sox and has been assigned to the Portland Sea Dogs. Tavarez, 24, an outfielder, batted .335 for Portland last season. In the off-season, the Orioles selected Tavarez in the Rule 5 draft, but he didn’t make Baltimore’s 25-man roster, so the Orioles had to send Tavarez back to the Red Sox. He will join the Sea Dogs on Tuesday when they report to Portland, in time for their season opener Thursday at Hadlock Field against the Reading Fightin Phils.

OPENING DAY is traditionally a day when some enterprising fans miss work or school to watch the game. Porcello never played hooky, however. “My mother was an English teacher, so that wasn’t part of the program.”

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: ClearTheBases

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