Johnson, who was brought to New York to give the Yankees an edge in the postseason, gave up as many hits, nine, as he got outs. The Angels scored five runs against Johnson, who left with his team trailing, 5-0.
"If I would have paid a ticket to watch me pitch, I probably would have booed me, too," said Johnson, who made the shortest postseason start of his career. "They've come to expect a little more out of me. I've come to expect more out of myself."
The Yankees quickly rallied for six runs over the fourth and fifth innings, but the Angels scored the next six runs, going ahead on Chone Figgins' single against Aaron Small in the sixth. Small, who was 10-0 in the regular season, lost for the first time as a Yankee.
Essentially, the game came down to this: After both starters left early, the Angels' bullpen was far better. While the Yankees struggled to hold down the Angels, Scot Shields, Kelvim Escobar and Francisco Rodriguez all but throttled the Yankees.
For the Yankees to survive the first round, they would have to win Game 4 on Saturday at Yankee Stadium and Game 5 on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif.
"We'll see what we're made of," Alex Rodriguez said. "I still think we're the best team in baseball."
Former New York Mets player Matt Franco drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday to lift the Chiba Lotte Marines to a 2-1 win over the Seibu Lions in the opening game of the Pacific League's first-stage playoff.
Franco's single to center at Chiba Marine Stadium allowed Kazuya Fukuura to score from third with the winning run as Bobby Valentine's team took the first game of the three-game series.
Lotte starter Shunsuke Watanabe picked up the win after holding the Lions to one run on six hits over seven innings. Masahide Kobayashi retired the side in the ninth for the save.
Seibu starter Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched a strong game, giving up one run on five hits over seven innings. Reliever Koji Mitsui took the loss after giving up the winning run in the eighth.
Takumi Kuriyama hit a solo homer to right in the first at-bat of the game to give the Lions an early lead. Lotte tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly to left by infielder Koichi Hori.
The Marines finished second in the Pacific League standings with an 84-49-3 record, 4-1/2 games behind the Softbank Hawks, who will play the winner of this playoff for the right to advance to the Japan Series against the Central League champion Hanshin Tigers.
Lotte is making its first postseason appearance since 1974 when they were known as the Lotte Orions.
The Lions, who had a sub-.500 record in the regular season and finished third, are making their second straight postseason appearance. They finished second last year and defeated the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in three games in the first-stage playoffs before downing the Hawks in the second stage.
Seibu defeated the Central League champion Chunichi Dragons in seven games last season to win the Japan Series.
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