Timlin placed on DL with tendinitis in knee

With Chris Smith's time in Boston likely nearing an end, the reliever got another chance yesterday. Instead of sending Smith back to Pawtucket, the Red Sox placed Mike Timlin on the 15-day disabled list, making room for Daisuke Matsuzaka on the active roster.

Timlin was put on the DL retroactive to June 17 with left knee tendinitis, which he said has been bothering him for "a while."

"It's something he's been pitching through," manager Terry Francona said. "I think it has something to do with some of the inconsistencies. He may not say that because it's part of the reason he's good.

"We talked to him [Friday] night about it for a while, just trying to make sure we're doing the right thing. I think we all ended up agreeing this was probably the best thing for him and for the organization."

Francona said the plan was to see if the tendinitis calmed down before the Sox head to Houston Friday. The plan then is to send Timlin to Pawtucket to pitch.

"Once we all feel he's ready to where he can try to pitch effectively where he's able to get out over that front leg and not have to force [it]," Francona said. "Last week I was talking about forcing the ball down with his upper body. We'll see how that goes this week.

"The ball seems to be coming out of his hand pretty good, but when he does miss a spot, he's paying for it. The good news is he doesn't look like he's hurting, but there has been a lot of inconsistency there in his pitching."

Timlin, who seemed unhappy about the decision, said the pain has been getting worse recently.

"They gave me some time to think about what I needed to do," he said. "Apparently, we agreed on [the DL]."

What has been particularly impressive about Timlin over the last few years is the Rasputin-like way he has been able to come back time and again. He appeared finished last season because of shoulder trouble, including a low point June 25 when he had a 6.48 ERA through 16 appearances. But from that date, Timlin had a 2.09 ERA in 38 2/3 innings the rest of the season.

"Why does a guy in the middle of a fight who's getting his butt kicked get back up and win the fight?" Timlin said. "Because at one point he's tired of getting beat on. You overcome the pain, you overcome what's going on, and you do what you can."

It appears likely Manny Ramírez will continue to occupy the designated hitter spot until the Sox head to Houston. Except for a few games in National League parks, he has played almost exclusively at DH since David Ortiz came out of the lineup.

"Most likely we will [keep him at DH]," Francona said. "If he came to me and said, 'I'm dying to play left field,' we'd do that. Until then, we'll probably stay where we're at."

While the Cubs had a scout with the Red Sox in Cincinnati and Philadelphia, the word out of Chicago was that their interest in Coco Crisp had waned since picking up Jim Edmonds. The teams talked about both Crisp and Craig Hansen this spring . . . One day after announcing he would have surgery that might end his career, Curt Schilling was in the clubhouse. Schilling got hugs from many of his teammates, including Ramírez, but declined to speak with the media . . . Both Crisp and Julio Lugo were out of the lineup yesterday. Nothing was wrong with either one; Francona wanted to get Brandon Moss and Alex Cora some playing time.

David Aardsma threw an impressive ninth inning Friday night, with swinging strikeouts of all three batters he faced (Ryan Ludwick, Rick Ankiel, and Troy Glaus). He did the same thing yesterday, striking out the side swinging in the eighth. But that doesn't mean Aardsma will get an audition for the eighth-inning role, even with Hideki Okajima continuing to struggle. "The role he is in has really helped us," Francona said. "He's pitched a couple runs down, a couple runs up. I think that that role needs to be filled by somebody that has a durable arm, will take the ball in different situations, not get flustered by getting up a couple times. He's handled that real well. So to change him I don't think makes a lot of sense."

The loss means the Red Sox have dropped a series at Fenway Park for the first time since losing two of three to the Angels April 22-24 . . . Smith, who made his major league debut, missed the start of the 2003 season because of an ATV accident in 2002. "His composure, his mound presence, you know he's been faced with a number of challenges throughout his professional career, whether it's coming back from injury, whether it's fighting his way to the major league level," pitching coach John Farrell said. "He doesn't fear the situation that he was thrust into and he pitched just like that today." Smith was the fifth Sox player to make his major league debut this season, following Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Van Every, Justin Masterson, and Chris Carter . . . The four innings thrown by Smith were the most a Sox reliever has thrown since Kyle Snyder went 4 1/3 innings July 31, 2006, against Cleveland. It was the longest relief outing by a Red Sox pitcher in his major league debut since Dana Kiecker threw four innings April 12, 1990, in Detroit . . . Cora had two RBIs, which doubled his RBI total for the season. The last time he drove in more than one run was May 12, 2007.

Gordon Edes and Monique Walker of the Globe staff contributed to this report.