AMERICAN LEAGUE UPDATE: JOHNSON NOT TRYING TO DOMINATE.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

Randy Johnson will not soon fall into the category of soft-tossing left-hander. But it is clear he may no longer be the hard-throwing strikeout machine we have come to know in a career that has spanned more than 56,000 pitches.

Johnson's debut season in pinstripes has seen a marked decline in the number of strikeouts he is recording. The change has lead some to speculate whether the Yankees will enjoy the dominance Johnson displayed in his previous stops.

Friday night, Johnson recorded a workmanlike 6-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox that was more befitting a middle-of-the-rotation type than the most dominant left-hander of his era. He worked six innings and struck out three, which continues a trend of relying more on his fielders than bulling through opposing batters.

Through nine starts, Johnson had just 55 strikeouts, down from 91 through a similar number of stars last year. Some theorize that since this is his first year playing in an outdoor, cold-weather climate, that it will take time to work into his velocity.

Johnson, who now is 5-3 with a 3.99 ERA, is not terribly concerned.

``People want to see me strike out batters,'' he said last week. ``I know that. They've become accustomed to me doing it. But having a high number of strikeouts doesn't mean that I'm in great shape or pitching well, or that we're definitely going to win the game. I've struck out 19 batters in a game and lost. I've struck out 20 in a game and gotten a no-decision. Strikeouts are a sign of domination, but that doesn't mean we're winning games, and that is what I'm here to do.''

For this year and two more after that. The Yankees surely aren't paying him upward of $15 million a season for anything less than domination, and they assume that will come, too.

``He's going to be throwing harder before the year is out, I know that,'' pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre told the New York Daily News.

--Oakland still sliding: The downward spiral of the Oakland Athletics continued this week when the A's were swept at Tampa Bay for their fifth loss in a row and 14th in 17 games. It would be inaccurate to term the Devil Rays' sweep an ``upset,'' since, at 19-30, they hit the weekend with a better record than the A's (17-30), who lost their sixth in a row at Cleveland on Friday.

On Wednesday, Joe Blanton, one of Oakland's promising young starters, got one out before the Devil Rays chased him in a 10-run first inning, hours after catcher Jason Kendall called a players-only meeting to try and turn things around.

On Thursday, Dan Haren, one of the keys to the Mark Mulder trade, was nearly perfect through six innings before coughing up a two-run lead. He has now lost six consecutive decisions.

``It's a very, very difficult year for me and the team,'' Haren (Pepperdine) said. ``It's really wearing on me. It's frustrating for the team, because we're better than how we're doing right now, and for myself, it's tough to swallow and go back to the hotel at night and go over again and again. I'm sure I'm not the only guy in the clubhouse thinking like that.''

Oakland is 5-18 this month, with a staff ERA of 5.79 and sweeps at the hands of Texas, Boston and the New York Yankees.

``I hope this is the bottom,'' manager Ken Macha said after the Blanton debacle.

--Pitching a fit: In this politically correct era, teams tend to do a good job containing strife behind closed clubhouse doors. But that's a little tougher to do when the starting pitcher and catcher end up rolling on the dugout floor in the middle of an in-game tiff.

So it was with the Texas Rangers this week when starter Ryan Drese and catcher Rod Barajas went at it in the sixth inning of their 4-3 win over Kansas City on Tuesday.

In a shock to virtually no one who has climbed a mound or donned protective gear, the argument stemmed from pitch selection. But Drese and Barajas put the fracas behind them to work a scoreless seventh inning, and eternal optimist Buck Showalter managed to put a positive spin on the dust-up.

``They are two passionate people who care about the Rangers winning,'' the Texas manager said. ``It doesn't always have to show itself that way. But I'm proud that our guys care.''

--A love lost: David Wells will start for Boston today, at Yankee Stadium. He isn't exactly dripping with sentimentality over his second start before a fan base that adored him in two stints there but booed him heavily when he started Opening Night.

Wells claims he has never heard of new second baseman Robinson Cano and has generally ignored the Yankees' grim beginning and sudden resurgence.

``Cut the cord, man,'' he told reporters in Toronto before Boston arrived in New York. ``Do I feel love for them? No.''

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

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