Right from the start yesterday, pitching was a chore for Randy Johnson. As A's darted around the bases scoring three runs in the first, you knew Johnson didn't have his "A" game going.

"He battled it and earned his money," Joe Torre said of the $16 million Johnson is pulling down.

For only the fourth time in his career, Johnson failed to fan at least one batter. But he was good enough to earn the win in a 6-4 victory over the A's.

"Strikeouts are what they are," said Johnson, who is 4-2. "It doesn't show how you win games."

Johnson, who is third on the all-time K list with 4,211, bagged his 250th victory. He is the 42nd chucker to reach that milestone

Torre said Johnson's rough outing had nothing to do with a recent groin problem.

Mariano Rivera's sixth save in eight chances was his 342nd and moved him past Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers on the all-time list and into seventh place ... The victory was Torre's 1,800th. He is the 13th manager in history to notch that many victories ... Robinson Cano went 4-for-5 and has 11 hits in the last 17 at-bats, a .647 clip ... Tony Womack swiped four bases for the second time within a week to tie the club record he shares. Womack has 10 steals in 12 attempts.

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Bernie Williams will be in the lineup tonight and tomorrow night against the Mariners in Seattle. However, Torre didn't know yesterday where Williams would play.

"One of each," Torre said of using Williams as the DH and in center field. "I haven't decided which order."

Torre also left open the possibility of Williams playing Wednesday against lefty Jamie Moyer.

Williams hasn't started a game since last Wednesday, when he was the DH against Moyer.

He hasn't started a game in center since May 2 due to a right elbow problem.

"I want to make sure he doesn't get stale sitting on the bench," Torre said of Williams, who put on a power show from the left side in BP yesterday.

When Torre uses Williams as the DH, he said Jason Giambi would play first.

Giambi hasn't been at first since April 16 and has played only four games there this season. That would mean Tino Martinez would have a day off.

Released by the Yankees Thursday, Steve Karsay signed with the Rangers and will report to Double-A today ... Torre will start John Flaherty behind the plate tonight to take advantage of Flaherty's .500 (8-for-16) average against Aaron Sele.

Flaherty has also caught two of tonight's starter Chien-Ming Wang's three big league starts.

Wang (1-1, 4.43 ERA) opens a three-game series tonight at Safeco Field in Seattle against Sele (2-4, 6.31). RHP Carl Pavano (2-2, 4.80) draws RHP Julio Mateo (1-0; 0.41) tomorrow night and then RHP Mike Mussina (4-2; 3.46) goes Wednesday night versus Moyer (4-1, 5.53).http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/24077.htm