Three games into the new season and I have seen something in these Red Sox I was beginning to think I would never see again – a member of the Boston club actually appearing to have fun on the job.

Tony Pena is his name. He is the team’s new catcher, having come over from St. Louis during the offseason as a free agent.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear about a free agent signing, I automatically categorize the player as one of these cold-eyed, cash-counting baseball robots rampant in the game who play with all the enthusiasm of stewardesses handing out soft drinks and peanuts.

Not Pena.

The first inkling I got that this career .259 hitter who catches like he’s doing yoga exercises might be something different came even before the opening day game with the Tigers started.

It was the ceremonial first pitch. Toni Giamatti, widow of the late commissioner Bart Giamatti, tossed a little 10-foot changeup to Pena. The crowd clapped politely. It was typical opening day fare at Fenway.

Then it got atypical.

After catching the ball, Pena walked to Giamatti, who was seated in the first row. At this point, I can safely say 99 out of 100 of today’s young, socially inept athletes would have awkwardly shaken Mrs. Giamatti’s hand. Maybe they would have said something. Maybe not.

Pena continued walking, past hand-shaking range. He gently put his arm around Mrs. Giamatti’s shoulder and, being careful not to pull her from the stands, hugged her. At the same time, he said something directly into her ear.

I don’t know what he said. And, having had time to ponder it, I think it’s best none of us know. It doesn’t really matter what he said.

What matters is Mrs. Giamatti was so moved by Pena’s gesture she hugged Pena back and blinked hard.

The moment gave me a warm feeling. It touched me. I’m sure it touched everyone who witnessed it. Upon reflection, I tried to recall a similar such moment, such a genuine, human display from another Red Sox player.

Oh yeah, there’ve been plenty of high-fives and handshakes given to each other after home runs. Occasionally, a player wearing Boston colors has tipped his hat in acknowledgement of the crowd’s adulation. But all that has become so typical of the game it is a cliche. And with the Sox, I never got the feeling it was genuine.

The only similar moment I can recall came 8-9 years ago when then Sox slugger Jim Rice plucked a young boy who had just been cut by a foul ball from the stands and carried him into the Boston clubhouse for treatment. But that was a reaction rather than an action.

Here Pena, before playing his first real game for the Sox, in front of 35,000 people, took it upon himself to provide comfort to a woman who had lost her husband. For this moment, the game and all its trappings could wait.

Since then, we have seen Pena catch. We have seen him hit. His three hits in Tuesday’s game with Detroit delivered the win.

Following Tuesday’s game, Pena was on the Sox postgame radio show. Joe Castiglione asked him what the key is to his playing well.

“I just try to have fun out there,” Pena answered in his thick spanish accent. “You just have to be loose and have fun. You can’t be all tight and play this game.”

Perfect. In three sentences Pena summed up what has been wrong with the Red Sox for a long time, at least since the Game 6 horror in the ’86 World Series. Saddled with the humiliation of that loss to the Mets and beset with the tension of the Wade Boggs-Margo Adams scandal, has there been a team that’s played tighter than the Sox in recent years?

Since his arrival, Pena has provided Boston fans with a genuinely warm moment. He is 5-for-12 with the bat with 3 RBI. He has been both entertaining and effective behind the plate. And the Red Sox are 3-0.

Who’d have thought the arrival of a free agent catcher would get rid of the bad karma surrounding this club? With Tony Pena on the field, watching the Sox is fun again.