Pen has been mighty so far

NEW YORK -- While an overtaxed Yankee bullpen was pressed into action after just two batters yesterday -- Jeff Karstens leaving after being struck in the right knee by Julio Lugo's liner -- Theo Epstein's makeover of the Red Sox bullpen has been a smashing success in the season's first month.

The Sox pen began the day with a 2.28 earned run average, the best among AL relief staffs and second in the majors to the Mets (2.24). The Sox had converted all eight save opportunities, seven by Jonathan Papelbon, one by Hideki Okajima. The Sox are the only team to have converted all of its save chances.

Sox relievers posted three scoreless innings in Friday night's 11-4 win -- one each by Mike Timlin, Okajima, and Joel Piñeiro -- and after yesterday's 3-1 loss to the Yankees, in which the relievers went 2 2/3 scoreless innings, they have a streak of 11 2/3 scoreless innings and have allowed just four earned runs in 38 innings over the last 16 games. On the road, the Sox have not allowed a run in relief in their last 17 1/3 innings.

Papelbon ranks first in the AL in fewest hits allowed per nine innings, 1.08. Okajima is tied for fourth at 3.38. Papelbon is first in opposing batting average (.038, 1 for 26), Okajima third (.111, 4 for 36). Brendan Donnelly is first in the league in first-batter efficiency (0 for 8 ), and has allowed only one of eight inherited runners to score.

"Each guy commands the count, throws strikes, and gets ahead in the count," pitching coach John Farrell said. "I think they've begun to form their own personality, roles are starting to emerge. I think this group has started to galvanize, especially with Paps now on the back end. They're confident, they're throwing strikes, and they have total confidence in the game being called by Jason [Varitek] and Dougie [Mirabelli]."

Okajima has pitched 10 2/3 scoreless innings since giving up a home run to Kansas City's John Buck on his first pitch in the big leagues. Friday night, Sox manager Terry Francona gave Okajima the eighth inning, against lefthanded hitters Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui, after bringing in Timlin to pitch the seventh, because Timlin had good numbers against the top of the Yankee order.

"Timlin is a huge part of our bullpen," Francona said. "We want him to be a huge part of our bullpen, but he didn't have much of a spring training [strained oblique] and for the first time in his career he had a tough time in the second half.

"We're trying to get him into a bit of a rhythm and some confidence. We've all seen what he can do when he's good. He threw the ball very well [Friday] night. He had good angle on his pitches."

It helps, of course, that Sox starters have 13 quality starts (at least 6 innings, 3 ER or fewer) out of 23 games.

Karstens threw five pitches to Kevin Youkilis after being smacked just under the knee by Lugo's liner. All five were thrown on a fractured fibula. Karstens, who will be placed on the disabled list, was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was given X-rays and a CT scan. He said he expects to pitch again this season.

The New York papers were full of reports that Joe Torre's job is in jeopardy. General manager Brian Cashman met with Torre and his coaching staff well into the night Friday.

"Right now, what we're trying to get through, really I think, has as much to do with the injuries as anything else," Cashman said. "That's me. The stuff in the paper I can't speak to one way or the other. Right now we're all obviously frustrated with what's going on in our lives. Anything can happen because of it."

Such as Torre losing his job. Cashman said it wasn't necessary for him to give his manager a vote of confidence, emphasizing that both he and Torre have been in similar situations before.

"I don't want to pawn it off and say it's not my fault," Torre said. "I'm the manager.

"This questioning isn't bad. The losing is much worse. I'm more tired in the morning when we're losing. I make it on less sleep."

Because the team is struggling with injuries in April -- as opposed to later in the season -- less is available in the trade market. That means the Yankees have had to find solutions from within their system, solutions such as Chase Wright and Phil Hughes.

"We're asking a little bit sooner than we would have expected," Cashman said. "We never expected to have our No. 1, our 3, our 4, and our 6 starter go down all at the same time. That's tough to deal with. I can't remember when any organization got crushed like that at the same time as you're getting out of the gates."

And that has led to losing. Lots of losing.

"You never get used to it," Torre said. "It's all about winning."

Top center field prospect Jacoby Ellsbury doubled in four trips yesterday for Double A Portland, extending his hitting streak this season to 13 games. The double was his 10th of the season and he also drove in his 12th run. He's hitting .455, and going back to last Aug. 27, he's hit safely in 22 straight regular-season games. "He's going crazy," Francona said. "That's good." But Francona wasn't interested in speculating on Ellsbury's ETA in the majors. "I hope we win today," Francona said. "How many games into the season is he? It's a great start for a good young player. That's what he needs to concentrate on. I don't need to be the player development guy." . . . Francona said he received a glowing report on Jon Lester's start Friday night in Pawtucket, but cautioned that it was premature to speculate that he will be called up after he makes the last start of his 30-day rehab assignment Wednesday for the PawSox. "You might be jumping the gun a little bit," he said. Of reports that Lester reached 95 miles an hour with his fastball, Francona said, "He did that all through the minor leagues. When he got to us, we didn't see that."

Francona's postmortem on Daisuke Matsuzaka's performance Friday night, in which the righty barely survived a 41-pitch fourth inning: "That bad inning, he walked three, which is not good. But after that, there were no balls that were squared up. [Derek ] Jeter does what he does so well -- he fights a ball off to right field. [Jorge ] Posada dunks one in front of Manny [Ramírez], and Johnny [ Damon] gets his bat head on it and serves one into right. They weren't taking hellacious swings and knocking the ball all over the ballpark. The walks put him in a bind." Francona said Matsuzaka may have been too cautious. "It's human nature not to trust your stuff all the time," he said. "People are human. You go through some ebbs, how you feel, during a game. He's done that a few times. The good news is, he gets it back."