Beckett can't get in the 21 club

The next time you'll see Josh Beckett will be in October, with the stakes much higher than trying to clinch the American League East. And if Beckett picks up the loss, as he did last night in a 5-4 decision to Minnesota, you won't hear the following:

"It's nice to have your [butt] whipped every once in a while. It'll bring you back down."

Beckett has been up for most of the year, compiling a résumé worthy of Cy Young Award consideration. The hard-throwing Red Sox righthander finished the regular season 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA and 194 strikeouts in 200 2/3 innings.

But last night he got whipped.

Beckett lasted six innings and 99 pitches, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits, including two home runs.

"Josh left some fastballs over the plate and kind of paid the price for it," manager Terry Francona said.

Beckett agreed the fastball was his problem on a night when he picked up his first loss since Aug. 29 and gave up double-digit hits for the fourth time this season.

"The biggest thing was fastball command," Beckett said. "When I'm trying to throw them on the corners, they go just off the plate or just down the middle. If you can't locate your fastball, hitters are going to get the best of you most of the time."

Beckett gave up bullets in almost every inning, starting with a triple to the grate in center field by Jason Kubel in the first that drove in Jason Bartlett. It continued when Beckett left a fastball over the middle to Michael Cuddyer in the second that he drove well out of the park to left, possibly disrupting traffic on the Mass. Pike.

The final rocket of the night came in the sixth, when Twins first baseman Garrett Jones smashed a line home run to dead center - again on a fastball.

Francona suggested Beckett's problems could be attributed to an extra day of rest as the Sox prepare for the postseason.

"He came out of the bullpen strong, but not necessarily commanding like he can," Francona said.

"Sometimes the extra day has something to do with that, and [pitching coach] John [Farrell] and Josh will have to adjust that whenever he pitches next. I don't know if they'll take an extra side [session] or how they'll do it. The extra rest is good, and probably necessary at times, but I think it can get in the way of his command."

Beckett didn't use the extra day as a crutch, especially since he has pitched on five days' rest several times this season, but did acknowledge he was stronger than normal.

"I definitely had to pace myself," he said.

"I was getting out there a little too quick and leaving some balls up and in to righties and up and away to lefties. Just getting my legs out from underneath me. That usually happens when I'm strong. And I think to be strong at this point in the year is a good thing, but at the same time, you've got to learn how to harness that and execute pitches."

Beckett will have extra days off once again, and much to his chagrin, he doesn't know how many. Logic dictates Beckett will be the Game 1 starter when the Sox open the postseason - though Francona declined to reveal his playoff rotation - which means he would pitch either Wednesday or Thursday. "It's kind of frustrating because you're trying to set yourself up to pitch and during the season you know when you're going to pitch," Beckett said.

"And when you get to the playoffs, they're building in these extra off days so we don't play on Saturdays or things like that. I guess the college football season interrupts the TV schedule."

Beckett's only other postseason experience came in the Marlins' 2003 World Series run. He was 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA in 42 2/3 innings that October as a 23-year-old in his second full season in the majors.

By all accounts, he has matured since then, becoming this year what the Sox hoped he would be - a staff-leading workhorse. The Cy Young, too, might be in his sights, though Beckett tries not to dwell on it.

"I'd be lying if I sat here and said I didn't think about it at all," he said. "I try to really focus on things I can control, and that's one of those things I really have no control over."

And in the month when games matter most, Beckett is working to control his fastball.