RANDY JOHNSON

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
Randy Johnson keeps the Sox in check

June 10, 2007 ... It took just one batter in this afternoon's 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks to see that Mike Timlin’s fielding could use a little work. Timlin's throwing error on a sacrifice bunt led to three unearned Arizona runs in the eighth inning and blew up what had been a tense pitching duel between Randy Johnson and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Matsuzaka didn't sign on for this when he came to the American League: having to bat against the 6-foot-10-inch Johnson, who at 43 was as menacing as ever, striking out nine while allowing a run on four hits in six innings.

The Sox, who had a chance to come home with a winning trip despite losing the first three in Oakland, didn't lose their grip until the eighth, which began with Conor Jackson's base hit off reliever Brendan Donnelly. Javier Lopez walked Stephen Drew after he was unable to put down a bunt, and manager Terry Francona summoned Timlin, making his first appearance for the big club since May 2, the day before he was placed on the disabled list with what the team is calling tendonitis in his shoulder.  On Saturday, when Timlin was activated and the Sox cut ties with J.C. Romero, Francona said he wanted to ease Timlin into action.

Timlin had made just one error in the last three seasons combined. Yesterday, Carlos Quentin bunted the ball right back to him, the ball not veering from the strip of dirt that leads from the plate to the mound. Timlin picked the ball up with his bare hand, then threw it over the head of Dustin Pedroia. Both runners scored on the overthrow, and Quentin, who was credited with a sacrifice, wound up on third. Timlin walked the next batter, Chris Snyder, then got the next two hitters on popups before Chris Young lined a single to left, scoring Quentin to make it 5-1.

The Sox, whose lineup did not include either J.D. Drew (1 for 8 against Johnson) or David Ortiz (4 for 25), took a 1-0 lead against Johnson in the fourth, when Manny Ramirez walked and scored on a double by Mike Lowell, who is playing with his left thumb heavily wrapped (sprained ligament).

But the Diamondbacks answered with single runs in both the fourth and sixth against Matsuzaka, who has lost his last three. Both innings started with Matsuzaka walking the leadoff man: Orlando Hudson walked and stole second, and after a walk to Jackson, Hudson scored on a single by Stephen Drew. In the sixth, Jackson walked and scored on Quentin's double into the gap.

The Sox had a chance to push across the tying run after Johnson departed in the seventh, when Pedroia opened with a single off reliever Jailen Peguero and was bunted to second by pinch hitter Alex Cora, who hit for Matsuzaka. But Julio Lugo, who homered in his first at-bat in Arizona, then failed to get the ball out of the infield the rest of the weekend, rolled to third, and Coco Crisp, who had just three singles in 25 at-bats on the trip, saw Young run down his gapper to left-center. Crisp also hit the ball well with two on and two out in the ninth, but this time it was right at Young, who caught the ball.

The Sox got terrific starting pitching on this trip; Curt Schilling threw a complete-game one-hitter and no Sox starter allowed more than three earned runs, with only Julian Tavarez, in the first game in Oakland, failing to last six innings. The staff ERA on the trip was 2.30; opponents hit just .201.  But the Sox offense was held to two runs or fewer four times. They batted just .222, with seven home runs, and had almost twice as many whiffs as walks.

Coco Crisp had a single in each of the three games here, and drove a ball into the left-center gap that was run down by Chris Young in the seventh, but he still has shown little sign of going on a hot streak that would shake an offensive slump that is entering its sixth week.

Despite three hits in each of the first two games here, J.D. Drew was not in the starting lineup against Randy Johnson. Drew has just one hit in eight at-bats against the Big Unit.

The Sox return home with three wins in seven games on this trip, and with their lead over the Yankees under double digits for the first time since May 24. Five games have been sliced off the lead in 12 days.