Beckett sees spoils to be won

BALTIMORE — Josh Beckett knows that while he can’t quite make amends for a season cut short by injuries, he can make something happen in his last four or five starts. Perhaps that might take some of the sting out of a season that he calls “pretty frustrating.’’
“I think you go through different things, different years, different times of the year,’’ Beckett said. “I know last year in August I was atrocious. You’ve got to keep going, keep grinding things out, get your work in, and try to get better every day.
“I missed a large portion of the season. That’s the toughest part. I’ve said this before: If you’re healthy, at least you can work on things. When you’re not healthy, you can’t work on things, you can’t get better, you’re very limited to what you can do.
“Right now I’m glad I’m healthy. Obviously the outcome is not where I would like it to be, but at least I can work on it and get better and do things that I need to do. I’m definitely not folding the tent up. I definitely want to go out and help this team win some games down the stretch.’’
After not speaking to the media Tuesday night after his start, Beckett talked at length yesterday about how he’s pitching, about where the team is now, about his plans for the last month of the season. Asked why he did not make himself available after the game, Beckett said, “I just had stuff to do. I had stuff to take care of. I couldn’t put into words how I felt, so I just had things to do.’’
It was a strange answer. But it has been a strange season for Beckett, in part because he finally finds himself healthy and beginning to be productive as the Sox drop out of contention.
“We’ve got games against guys that are contenders,’’ Beckett said. “I don’t know about the rest of those guys, I’d rather go to the playoffs, but I don’t mind playing spoiler, either. I don’t think we’ve completely folded the tent here.’’
But the reality is that the Sox have fallen out of the race. And Beckett said he and his teammates can only look at themselves for the reason why.
Asked if he shoulders some blame, Beckett said, “I think everybody in here does, all 75 guys that played on our team this year. I think everybody would do that. It’s a shame because there’s been some guys that have come in and really done an unbelievable job to put us in the situation that we were in, that we’re still in this late in the season.
“As far as me taking [responsibility], yeah definitely, all that time I missed, that hurt us. Like I said, if you went up to everybody, everybody would probably say the same thing.’’
In Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the Orioles, Beckett showed improvement over his last few starts. After allowing at least six runs in three straight games, Beckett gave up three to the Mariners and Orioles in his last two outings. But against Baltimore, Beckett was victimized by a Marco Scutaro throwing error that sent two runners home and made one of his three runs allowed unearned.
“I thought I did good in some innings,’’ Beckett said. “Some other innings, felt like I let things bother me a little too much. Definitely progress in some of the innings.
“I felt like I had good stuff against Seattle, just wasn’t executing pitch to pitch. It was thinking about results instead of the process. ‘OK, when I get out of this inning, this is going to happen.’
“Last night, I felt like towards the end of the game I did a better job of that. I just think that the process of how the stuff comes out was better last night towards the end.’’
Reliever Felix Doubront was sent back to Boston yesterday to get an MRI and CT scan on his neck. The news was good, though — only a mild strain in his upper pectoral muscle. “Kind of where it reaches the clavicle on his glove side,’’ said manager Terry Francona. While Doubront was planning on coming back to Baltimore, the Sox decided he should remain in Boston, since they were not planning on pitching him last night or tonight. “Probably needs a couple days,’’ Francona said. “It kind of started [when] he reached up for a ball coming back from Victor [Martinez]. That’s how he noticed it.’’ It’s unclear if the injury affected Doubront Tuesday night when he allowed home runs to two lefthanded hitters, Luke Scott and Felix Pie, in the eighth inning.
The Sox added three players yesterday as the rosters expanded. As expected, they activated Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Eric Patterson from the disabled list. The Sox also brought up lefthanded reliever Dustin Richardson. When the Pawtucket season ends Monday, the Sox are likely to bring up a few more players, including Josh Reddick and Michael Bowden . . . Francona said Scutaro has backed off some of his pregame preparation, given his shoulder injury. He also thinks the injury affected the shortstop before the All-Star break, before he got an injection. But when asked about surgery in the offseason, Francona said, “I don’t know. I don’t know that anybody knows yet. I think when you get into that area, and I know I went through it myself, I was fully planning on having a nice surgery and feeling good — then you see the doctor and you realize when you get in that area, sometimes they can do more harm. It’s not just cut and dried.’’
Dr. George Theodore examined Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek in Baltimore yesterday, prior to the players getting CT scans tomorrow in Boston. Pedroia, who will find out tomorrow whether he’ll have surgery on his foot, got a good report. “Much improved from last week when he looked at him,’’ Francona said. “A lot less pain on the range of motion and the resistance, which was really encouraging. I don’t think that means he’s ready to play, but it was still really encouraging to see the amount of healing that’s taken place in a week.’’ Francona said Theodore also went over the surgery with Pedroia during the examination. As for Varitek, the catcher said his foot feels good, and he expects to get a clean bill of health tomorrow. Varitek said he thought he might go on a rehab assignment, perhaps as soon as this weekend. It’s possible he could be back for next week’s series against the Rays.
The game was delayed with two strikes and two outs in the ninth inning when home plate umpire Tom Hallion got hit in the midsection by a foul ball with Nick Markakis at bat. Hallion stood behind the plate in pain for a few minutes, before being led away. “He got it good,’’ Martinez said. “It hit me first, so I really didn’t see where it got him. But he got hit hard.’’ Second base umpire Lance Barksdale finished behind the plate . . . Carlos Delgado had his hip checked out by a doctor in Colorado yesterday. He has an out in his contract, but has not exercised it and remains with the organization. Delgado has not played since Aug. 15 because of a recurrence of pain. He has had two surgeries since he last played in the majors in 2009 . . . Jon Lester’s 13 straight wins against the Orioles mark the longest active winning streak for any pitcher against any team. He had only allowed more than three runs in a start once in 15 outings against them . . . Orioles center fielder Adam Jones left with upper-back soreness.
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amaliebenjamin.