Timlin's course is slow and steady

Reliever Mike Timlin will make two more appearances with Triple A Pawtucket, then join the Red Sox next weekend in Arizona. That was the tentative plan outlined yesterday by manager Terry Francona, who watched Timlin pitch for the PawSox the night before.

"Pretty good" was Francona's assessment of Timlin's scoreless inning, in which he threw just a dozen pitches. Timlin may go two innings tomorrow in Norfolk, Va., then throw an inning Wednesday.

"We like Mike," Francona said. "We want him back, but we want to do it the correct way."

Timlin has made four appearances with Pawtucket, and the last one was the best. He has given up five hits and two walks while being charged with three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

The 41-year-old righthander hasn't pitched since May 2 for the Red Sox, who placed him on the disabled list with the same condition that sidelined him last season, inflammation in his pitching shoulder. While Timlin has insisted he is good to go, he also has indicated he expects the condition could recur, and that his pain tolerance will impact how much he will be able to pitch.

Overall, Timlin has pitched in just nine games for the Sox this season, posting a 6.23 ERA.

While Yankees manager Joe Torre called Alex Rodriguez's actions on a pop fly in Toronto Wednesday "inappropriate," general manager Brian Cashman sounded more tolerant.

"I'm listening to Jimmy Rollins [of the Phillies] on XM Radio this morning and he says it happens to him quite often," Cashman said.

Rodriguez called out to Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark as he prepared to catch a popup.

"I've heard other infielders say it happens a lot. But it's New York and it's looked upon differently," said Cashman. "It's a national story because it happened in New York. If this were Kansas City, it wouldn't be a two-day story. He's got the biggest contract on the biggest team. Was he wrong? How wrong really was it? You hear people say it was wrong and other people say it wasn't. Obviously, other people had issues with it."

Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, a former second baseman, said it happened to him all the time when he was playing, but he never missed a popup because of it. And yes, he admitted, he tried to pull it off himself a few times. "When you're a little bum of a player, you have to try everything," he said.

Francona recalled being 9 years old and hearing former big league manager Dave Bristol, then coaching third base, screaming on every popup. "I really thought there was a rule you couldn't do that."

The Globe's Nick Cafardo uncovered another bit of A-Rod-like chicanery perpetrated by Francona's dad, Tito. It happened when Tito Francona was playing for the Indians against the Red Sox June 11, 1962. The Indians had the bases loaded, and Sox pitcher Earl Wilson was preparing to pitch to Willie Kirkland. Just as he was about to deliver his pitch, Francona, who was the base runner on first, yelled, "Hold it, Earl." Wilson held up and was called for a balk, a run scoring. Kirkland then hit a three-run home run, and the Sox lost, 10-0.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who hit .415 last month, has positioned himself nicely to be Boston's second consecutive American League rookie of the month, joining lefthanded reliever Hideki Okajima, who was voted the league's top rookie in April. Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a 3-for-4 outing last night. He struck out looking against Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth, just his second whiff in the last 20 games. He has just nine strikeouts in 142 plate appearances this season, one more than Alex Cora for fewest on the team, and Cora has 56 fewer plate appearances. Last season, in 111 games with Pawtucket, Pedroia whiffed just 27 times, and in 1,040 career minor league at-bats, struck out just 77 times . . . Because of ESPN, which is televising tomorrow night's game and made it an 8:05 start, Francona said the Sox don't expect to arrive in the Bay Area until 6 the next morning, with a game against Oakland that night. The Sox will send Monday night's starter, Julian Tavarez, ahead of the team, and quite possibly Tuesday night's starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, as well. And Francona is likely to "mix and match" position players to give them some rest at the start of the trip, which continues through the weekend in Arizona. "There will be some grumbling," he said, "and I'll be right at the top of the list." . . . Mike Lowell's 22-game hitting streak at Fenway Park, which extended to April 13, was tied for the second longest such single-season streak in the last 50 years, according to Trent McCotter of the Society of American Baseball Research. Nomar Garciaparra had a 31-game hitting streak at Fenway in 2003. Tony Armas had a 22-game streak in 1984. Lowell was replaced in the field to start the fifth inning after being hit by a Chien-Ming Wang pitch in the third. Lowell was 0 for 1, ending the streak . . . Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a sixth-inning single.