Beckett wasn't close to pitcher perfect

Josh Beckett certainly had some things to think about as he stood in the outfield during batting practice last night. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

Josh Beckett climbed the mound Sunday night and, damaged as he was, issued a performance that seemed not quite right. The October chill set in, the fans dressed in parkas and mittens. And Beckett, the final piece to the familiar fall scene, foundered, his pace slowed, his location a smidge off, his fastball missing the extra bite that made him one the best postseason pitchers ever.

"I thought he was a little frustrated," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He wants to be Beckett in a situation where it's hard to be; maybe not fair."

Francona stated the obvious: Beckett was not himself in his first playoff appearance this season, a game the Sox would lose in 12 innings, 5-4. The righthander was hampered by a 13-day layoff owing to the right oblique strain that kept him from pitching Game 1 of this Division Series. Beckett insisted after Game 3 that the oblique did not affect him, and a day later he remained on schedule, making him the presumptive Game 1 starter of the AL Championship Series.

Perhaps that game will return him to his status as one of history's best in the playoffs. After allowing four runs on nine hits - the most he's allowed in a postseason game - Beckett's ERA rose from 1.73 to 2.09, dropping him from eighth all-time to 19th.

Nothing about Beckett's start seemed right or reminded you of his vintage postseason outings. He stood on the mound, shaking off catcher Jason Varitek or chatting with him between pitches. He held the ball for long stretches or stepped off and peered back toward the plate, a gunslinger suddenly uncertain.

"I think that's fairly obvious when that happens that a guy is trying to figure out a way to win," Francona said. "He was very competitive. It wasn't like he just felt like, 'OK, here's what I'm going to do.' It was like, at times, he was trying to make some things up."

To the game's second batter, Garret Anderson, Beckett threw an atypical glut of offspeed pitches rather than simply trying to fire fastballs past him. Varitek came out to visit Beckett often during the at-bat, with Chone Figgins on second base. Sometimes they needed to make sure Figgins wasn't stealing signs.

"They'd talk through it," Francona said. "When you see Tek go to the mound, that doesn't necessarily mean there's a mix-up. Sometimes, we're just trying to make a hitter hit without knowing where the [expletive] location is. The only way to do that is to go to the mound."

Beckett's misadventures continued in the field. Two grounders to the right side that could have produced outs didn't because of the awkward manner in which he covered first. Dustin Pedroia held the first ball even though Beckett covered in time, leery of making an error with the fleet Torii Hunter running.

Later, Mark Teixeira pulled Kevin Youkilis far off the base. Beckett hustled over, and Youkilis, who charged the ball, tossed at a strange angle. Beckett's neck craned all the way around, and he tapped his right foot near first base, unable to touch it.

"The Teixeira one, I didn't find the bag," Beckett said. "Youk gave me a good feed. I cut my route off too soon."

The entirety of Beckett's five innings and 106 pitches "was a grind for him," Francona said. The Angels employed more patience than usual, forcing Beckett to be finer and pitch from the stretch for nearly his entire outing. Beckett said 1-and-1 counts that he typically turns into 1-and-2 counts instead became 2-and-1.

"The Angels deserved a lot of the credit," Francona said. "They really grinded him out. He wasn't that bad. It wasn't the 96-m.p.h. velocity. But it was firm, and there was some movement. There were a lot of pitches that were this far off the plate that they didn't swing at."

After the game, very early Monday morning, Beckett stood in front of his locker and insisted, time and again, that his oblique was fine and he never worried. Across the clubhouse, Varitek insisted Beckett deserved credit merely for making the start.

"This start could have slid by, and nobody would have had any right to question him not pitching," Francona said. "But I thought our medical people gave him a realistic goal. When you give him a realistic goal, it's over. In other words, he's gonna do it."