On a blistering pace

Beckett expected to return Tuesday

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff  |  May 23, 2007

NEW YORK -- It's a tossup who's bigger, rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia or assistant athletic trainer Mike Reinold, who mostly goes unseen by the public but already has played a major role for the Red Sox this season.

Reinold, a native of Winthrop, and a 2000 graduate of Northeastern, is the man to whom the Sox have entrusted Jonathan Papelbon's care and maintenance; he runs Papelbon through a series of daily exercises and checkpoints designed to make sure his shoulder is OK. According to pitching coach John Farrell, Reinold also has had much to do with accelerating the healing process that has Josh Beckett on track to pitch next Tuesday against Cleveland in Fenway Park.

Beckett played catch yesterday with Farrell without a Band-Aid covering the middle finger of his right hand. This afternoon, manager Terry Francona said, Beckett will pitch a five-inning simulated game. Farrell said Beckett will throw around 75 pitches, do his normal warmups between innings, and gradually work without protection to build up toughness in the area of the skin that was torn.

"Barring anything unforeseen," Farrell said, "he should step back in with a very consistent pitch count, because we're able to maintain his arm strength."

Beckett was placed on the disabled list Saturday (retroactive to May 14) with what is listed as an avulsion -- a medical term referring to a skin tear. Beckett has gone on the DL seven times because of skin issues, primarily blisters, with the finger.

When he had a tear in 2004 with Florida, Beckett was sidelined 24 days. Farrell, asked if he were surprised at how quickly Beckett has recovered this time, said, "That's tough for me to speak to. This isn't a blister. It's not consistent with what's happened in the past.

"But to see now the portion of the skin that was pulled away, how that's filled back in, it's all smooth surface. Mike Reinold has done a heck of a job with it. He's used some laser techniques. He's used some overall creams that have helped initiate growth."

J.D. Drew's slump deepened last night, as he failed to get the ball out of the infield in his first four at-bats, once grounding into a double play, his third this season after he hit into just four last season.

He came into the game batting just .172 in his last 22 games and was without a home run in that span, but Francona said it's a matter of time before he gets hot.

"If we don't panic and hit him eighth, we'll be the recipient of that," Francona said.

Drew, whose contract gives the Sox an out if he has problems directly related to previous shoulder problems, was asked if there are any physical issues involved with his slow start.

"Nah," he said, "not that I can link to anything at all."

Drew, who appeals to Fenway traditionalists who enjoy seeing a player run out every ground ball, sat in front of his locker before the game, answering questions from a gaggle of reporters.

"It hasn't been a very good month," he said. "I know that it's one of those tough go-rounds. I felt I've hit some balls good and hit them right at some guys and there's not a lot to show for it. I don't know if you want to change anything, but sometimes you tend to do that and have a really bad at-bat.

"It's just a matter of keeping composed and doing the things you've always done at this level to be successful. I think a lot of times when things aren't going your way, you get out of your element a little bit, and that causes more problems than good sometimes."

Asked if he was pressing because he's with a new team, he said, "There's a tendency any time you go bad to try to do too much. In a perfect world, you'd get seven hits in five at-bats, especially when you're not going as good as you'd like. I think it all revolves around having good at-bats, try to get a hit or two a night and work your way out of it."

Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose next start is Friday night in Texas, threw 90 pitches in a bullpen session yesterday.

"We spent quite a bit of time working on his changeup," Farrell said. "Because he turns it over so much, there have been times when hitters get an early read on it. So we're trying to make it look out of his hand more like his fastball, so that it's got more of an effect.

"It's subtle. It's more a focal point of throwing the ball downhill rather than just thinking in the general area of the strike zone. When he throws it down in the bottom of the zone, he's on top of the ball more, his hand is on top of the ball more. I think when the ball is up, hitters read it right out of his hand and they'll take it.

"That's something Tek [Jason Varitek] and I have been kind of trying to get a handle on, because it's such a good pitch but hitters are not even offering at it. It's not so much to put guys away with, but getting lefthanders out with an easy ground ball to second or getting them out on their front foot more."

In his first at-bat, Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single to right off Mike Mussina. Youkilis began the night with a .342 average, which ranked fifth in the American League (Mike Lowell was ninth at .325). Only two hitters in the AL were at .400 or better this month, and both were here. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, the league's leading hitter with a .374 average, was hitting .446 (29 for 65), while Youkilis was at .400 (30 for 75). Youkilis is not on the All-Star ballot for first basemen -- with no DHs, David Ortiz is the Sox nominee -- but he leads all AL first basemen in hitting and ranked third in the majors to Derrek Lee of the Cubs (.394) and Todd Helton (.355) of the Rockies . . . Seven Sox began the night batting .300 or better in May, including Pedroia, who was at .366 (15 for 41), behind Youkilis and Wily Mo Peña (.368). Pedroia began the night batting .260 (25 for 96), second among AL rookie qualifiers to Angels outfielder Reggie Willits (.352) . . . Roxbury Latin lefthander Jack McGeary is the highest-ranked Massachusetts player in Baseball America's list of the top 200 prospects in this year's amateur draft, scheduled for June 7 in Orlando. McGeary is rated 27th; righthanded pitcher Matt Harvey of Groton, Conn., rated No. 11, is the highest New Englander . . . Righthander Carl Pavano awaits permission from the Yankees on whether he can undergo reconstructive right elbow surgery that will sideline him possibly until 2009, by which time his four-year, $39.95 million contract will have expired.

Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com; material from the Associated Press was used in this report.