Ex-games

"We told each other before the game we'd throw each other all fastballs," Lowe said.

He proceeded to allow three hits and two walks his first trip through the Sox order -- a lineup that featured only two regulars, Trot Nixon and David Ortiz, not to mention the pitcher.

Lowe went to 2-and-2 his first encounter with Arroyo, who stayed back long enough on the fifth pitch to bloop a ball toward shortstop Cesar Izturis. If Izturis had been 2 inches taller, or timed his jump better, he might have saved Lowe some grief.

"D-Lowe may hear about that one for a long time," Sox manager Terry Francona said of the base hit, which fell to the Holman Stadium grass the way a shuttlecock might in a game of badminton.

Lowe escaped the inning, and the two met on the infield.

According to Arroyo, Lowe said, "You'd better not throw me a breaking ball. If you do, I'm telling you right now, I'll shoot you after the game."

Lowe grounded out in his one plate appearance in the third, then was lifted when his spot in the order came due in the fifth. His final line: 5 innings, 6 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 2 earned runs. Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer to right-center in the third, the only one Lowe has allowed in 17 innings this spring.

"In the beginning you're trying to have probably too much fun, kidding around, laughing," Lowe said. "It was fun. It was what you'd expect. Good crowd."

The crowd, 8,135 strong, was the sixth-largest in the 53-year history of Holman Stadium on the idyllic grounds of Dodgertown. No bigger crowd had filed through the turnstiles here since March 17, 1979, when 8,200 came to see the Dodgers and Yankees. But Lowe disagreed when asked if this was an emotional day.

"We're way beyond that," he said. "I saw Pedro [Martinez] 10 days ago. He's over it. And I'm over it. It's nice that both the guys who left are pitching Opening Day for their respective clubs. I think that says something about the guys they got rid of."

Yes, Lowe will get the ball Opening Day, a first in his career. Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, who missed yesterday's game to attend the funeral of his college baseball coach, recently tapped Lowe to pitch the April 5 game at San Francisco.