Matchup years in making

Wakefield, Johnson are still getting it done

They didn't need walkers to reach the mound, nor did they break their hips while throwing breaking balls.

Randy Johnson and Tim Wakefield aren't that old. But by baseball standards, they're geriatric.

Medicine and physical fitness have come a long way, however, and that's one reason the 44-year-old Johnson and 41-year-old Wakefield have combined to pitch 6,660 1/3 innings with 6,551 strikeouts.

"I've been really working hard in the offseason for the past five or six years, so obviously the older you get the harder it is to stay in shape and the more important it is to stay in shape for the marathons we play for the seasons," Wakefield said.

After the loss, Johnson reflected on past matchups in which he, and not Wakefield, was the one with the run support.

"I faced Wake a couple times when I was with the Yankees," said Johnson. "I know I was on the other side of a couple of these games where I beat him, 1-0, so I guess what goes around comes around."

Wakefield remembered a game like that in New York and said it's "kind of cool" to go against Johnson, but that it's different because he doesn't have to bat against him.

In his fifth win in 10 decisions, Wakefield tossed seven innings of two-hit ball and struck out six while walking one against the first-place team in the National League West.

In his sixth loss in 10 decisions, Johnson gave up two runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out five, walked two, and his fastball peaked at 94 miles per hour.

In all, there was a lot of experience on the mound last night.

"There was in different fashions," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin. "One is more of a trick-pitch guy and the other has been a power pitcher his whole career, but they've both had good careers and it was a well-pitched game by both of them."

The total ages of the pitchers were the highest in a Red Sox game since Sept. 25, 1965, when Bill Monbouquette (29) and Satchel Paige (59) squared off, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and the first matchup of 40-plus pitchers since Curt Schilling (40) and Roger Clemens (45) faced each other last year at Fenway Park.

Nicknamed "The Big Unit," Johnson was once the most-feared pitcher in baseball. Johnson has struck out more than 200 batters in 14 seasons and more than 300 six times, including four seasons in a row. He trails only Nolan Ryan on the all-time strikeout list (4,692 to Ryan's 5,714).

Meanwhile, Wakefield's knuckleball still befuddles batters.

"It's frustrating," Melvin said. "You know you're going to get a good, long look at it. You know you don't have to speed your bat up. You know what you're going to get, for the most part. It's just getting a good ball to hit and trying to square it up for a guy who has a pitch you haven't seen too many times."

Melvin said Tom Candiotti, the color analyst for the Diamondbacks' radio broadcasts, threw some knuckleballs in an early batting practice yesterday afternoon to try and simulate what the Diamondbacks would face against Wakefield.

It didn't work.

With an active roster that includes four starting pitchers in their 20s, Wakefield may be the grandpa of the group (42-year-old Mike Timlin is on the disabled list), but until a knuckleball becomes as easy to hit as a down-the-middle fastball or hanging curve, he'll be effective.

"I don't think that's ever been questioned," Sox manager Terry Francona said. "You look up in the seventh inning and you usually have a chance to win the game. He has a knack of doing that and he's done it for a long time. Hopefully, it'll continue."