01:00 AM EDT on Monday, July 5, 2004

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

ATLANTA -- Several members of the Red Sox gave Manny Ramirez an earful of good-natured barbs when the Braves elected to intentionally walk Nomar Garciaparra and pitch to Ramirez in the third inning yesterday.

"I yelled at him, 'Don't they have cable here in Atlanta? Don't they see you're hitting .340?' " said David Ortiz, one of Ramirez' best friends. "He just looked at me and gave me a gesture like, 'I'll take care of it.' "

And Ramirez did take care of it. He crushed a two-run double to right-center. By the time he got to second base, he was waving his arms at teammates Pedro Martinez and Ortiz, making sure they had seen his clutch hit.

"When we do things like that we always joke around with the guys in the dugout," said Ramirez, whose double help Boston assume a short-lived 4-0 lead.

Manager Terry Francona, meanwhile, said he wasn't surprised Atlanta manager Bobby Cox had walked Garciaparra with runners at second and third and none out.

"Nomar had hit every ball the last few games on the barrel," said Francona. "You pick your poison there. They're both great hitters."

No extra start for Martinez

Francona and pitching coach Dave Wallace toyed with the idea of altering their rotation a bit so Martinez could get an extra start before the All-Star break.

Ultimately, though, they decided to start Tim Wakefield as originally planned tomorrow night when the Sox open their final homestand of the first half, a six-gamer in which Oakland and Texas come in for three games each.

Martinez will pitch Wednesday night. Had Martinez been moved up, he could have pitched tomorrow night and then Sunday, the last game before the break.

But they did tweak the rotation for Thursday's series finale against the Athletics. Curt Schilling will replace Bronson Arroyo that night. He will be pitching on his normal four days' rest because of today's day off. It was unclear when Arroyo would start again.

Lineup changes

Francona juggled his lineup a bit for yesterday's game, opting for defense over offense at first base, but offense over defense at second base.

David McCarty, the Sox' best glove man at first, was playing behind sinkerballer Derek Lowe. But Pokey Reese, the best defensive infielder on the team, was on the bench, replaced at second base by Mark Bellhorn. The absence of Ortiz prompted Francona to push Garciaparra up from fifth to third in the batting order, which is where he has hit the majority of his career. Garciaparra went 1-for-4, finishing the series at 7-for-13.

Bellhorn, who handled his chances flawlessly, went 2-for-4.

McCarty, meanwhile, made a nifty play in getting to Adam LaRoche 's chopper just before it went foul, turning that ball into an inning-ending double play in the fourth. He went 1-for-4.

They'll be seeing south paws

The Sox, who faced a left-handed starter yesterday (Mike Hampton ), will face lefties in the first two games of their next series, against Oakland, beginning tomorrow night. Barry Zito and Mark Redman will start tomorrow and Wednesday night, respectively.

Around the bases

The Jimmy Anderson Era dawned in the fifth inning yesterday, but it wasn't a rousing success at the outset. The left-hander, obtained in a trade on Friday, walked the first batter he faced, gave up a double to Andruw Jones and a two-run triple to Charles Thomas before fanning Eddie Perez and Mike Hampton in his debut for Boston. His E.R.A. is 26.99. . . . The double by Lowe was the second career hit for the Red Sox pitcher. His other hit also came at Turner Field, a single on June 16, 2002. . . . Center fielder Johnny Damon made a diving catch in right-center to rob Andruw Jones of a hit in the second. He also extended his hitting streak to a season-high 10 games. . . . Bill Mueller 's hustle to beat the back end of what would have been an inning-ending double play gave Lowe his chance to bat in the second, ultimately leading to a run. . . . The nine runs allowed in the fifth yesterday were the most given up by the Sox in an inning since the Yankees also scored nine runs, in the eighth inning of a June 19, 2000 game at Fenway, which New York won, 22-1.