Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield has another rough outing against Texas, and his new personal catcher, Josh Bard, doesn't fare much better.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 5, 2006

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Right from the beginning, Tim Wakefield had that queasy feeling, the one that comes when he realizes there's no telling what his signature pitch is going to do.

If Wakefield felt funny, imagine how Josh Bard felt. Behind the plate for Wakefield for the first time in a regular-season game, the Sox backup catcher had much more trouble catching his batterymate's knuckleball than Texas Rangers hitters had in hitting it.

Wakefield gave up four first inning runs last night, and when the Rangers tacked on two more in the fourth, his night -- and that of the Red Sox -- was effectively over. The Rangers kept piling on against the Boston bullpen and finished the Sox off with a 10-4 thumping.

"It seemed like every adjustment I made, (the knuckleball) did something different," sighed Wakefield. "I couldn't make (the proper) adjustments and I put us in a hole very early."

Wakefield's first outing of the season went downhill in a hurry. The Rangers had four runs on the scoreboard before the veteran righthander could record the second out of the inning.

Phil Nevin provided the big blow, a three-run blast to straightaway center. Three innings later, Nevin struck again, producing a two-run single that chased Wakefield from the mound and upped the Rangers' lead to 6-0.

"I'm very disappointed," said Wakefield. "I didn't want to start the season like that. You always want to start the season well, but I didn't do my job tonight."

Bard didn't fare much better. Tabbed as Wakefield's designated catcher in the spring following the departure of Doug Mirabelli, Bard was charged with two passed balls in the first inning and another in the third.

In 152 previous major league games, Bard had been charged with just nine passed balls and never committed more than one in a single game until last night.

"You've got to keep getting better," said Bard. "I'll take this as a first step and try to improve. We're going to have many more times when it comes out in our favor. But he was a little more erratic out of the strike zone tonight and I felt like I had to worry about keeping (the ball) in front of me rather than just catching it.

"I felt like I got in a defensive mode early."

Wakefield, who had formed a close working relationship with Mirabelli in their 4-plus years together, was quick to absolve Bard of any blame.

"I thought he did a really good job," Wakefield said. "It's not easy. This was more on me. I didn't execute my pitches when I had to. It's not him; it's me. The judgment should fall on me. It was definitely not his fault tonight."

The loss dropped Wakefield to 7-13 lifetime against Texas. No team has beaten him more often than the Rangers.

While Wakefield and Bard struggled to get in synch, Red Sox hitters could do little against Texas starter Vicente Padilla.

Coco Crisp (three hits) singled to start the game and stole second, and was joined on base by David Ortiz (walk) one out later. But Padilla bore done and fanned Manny Ramirez and got Trot Nixon on a grounder to quell the threat.

After Ortiz got on base, in fact, Padilla proceeded to retire 13 of the next 15 hitters he faced. A leadoff single by Mike Lowell in the second was soon erased by a double play.

"He threw a lot of fastballs," said Crisp of Padilla, who once pitched for Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "He located really well and stuck with his game plan. And he had good movement on the fastball."

In the sixth, the Sox finally nicked him for a run when Ortiz lashed a ground-rule double into the right field corner, scoring Crisp, who had reached on an infield single to second.

Texas added to its lead off the Boston bullpen. Lenny DiNardo, who relieved Wakefield in the fourth, allowed an inherited run to score when he was greeted by an RBI-single by Hank Blalock. The lefty later yielded a solo homer to Brad Wilkerson in the sixth.

The Rangers socked their third homer of the night off David Riske in the seventh when Rod Barajas slammed a pitch into the seats in left, scoring Kevin Mench ahead of him.

Boston tacked on some garbage-time runs in the final two innings. Trot Nixon singled home Crisp in the eighth. In the ninth, pinch-hitter Wily Mo Pena's first at-bat as a member of the Red Sox resulted in a run-scoring double. Pena soon scored on Mark Loretta's single to left.