Red Sox blast Chien-Ming Wang for seven runs in second inning

BY Mark Feinsand
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, March 14th 2009, 12:11 AM

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Friday night's Yankees-Red Sox game didn't exactly have the feel of a typical game in this heated rivalry, especially when you consider that Xavier Nady, Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom were the biggest names in the Bombers' lineup.

The other big name on hand was Chien-Ming Wang, although he wasn't around long after the Red Sox tagged him for seven runs in the second inning of a game won by Boston, 8-4.

Six of those runs were unearned thanks to Juan Miranda's throwing error, but Wang was knocked around for six hits - including titanic home runs by Mike Lowell and David Ortiz - in the frame, his first subpar outing in three spring starts.

"My control was off," Wang said. "My slider was flat. Everything was flat."

Wang had allowed just one run over five innings in his first two spring starts, and after getting three straight ground-ball outs in the first, it looked like business as usual.

But Lowell homered leading off the second, setting the tone for Boston's big inning. Wang allowed four singles in the inning before Ortiz's first homer of the spring - a two-run blast - ultimately sent the righthander to the showers after he recorded just five outs.

"I'll go to the bullpen and work," Wang said. "It should be fine. I'm not worried about it. The more I throw, the better."

FAMILIAR FEEL: Jorge Posada, who will be the designated hitter Saturday against the Pirates in a split-squad game in Bradenton, is slated to make his debut behind the plate tomorrow to catch Andy Pettitte at home against the Twins.

Mariano Rivera will only be throwing batting practice Saturday before the Yankees' home game against the Astros, but assuming all goes well during that session, the closer will make his spring debut Tuesday night at Steinbrenner Field against the Pirates.

Joe Girardi said Posada would catch three or four innings, then catch CC Sabathia on Tuesday and A.J. Burnett on Thursday, allowing him to get some game action with the two new Yankee starters.

COMEBACK KID: Jason Johnson, who has been working his way back after being diagnosed with eye cancer before spring training, will make his spring debut Saturday against the Pirates.

Even though Johnson is a few weeks behind fellow pitchers Brett Tomko, Dan Giese and Alfredo Aceves, the veteran righthander is still in the race to become the Yankees' long reliever, a battle Girardi called "pretty competitive."