ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The news from Terry Francona on Josh Beckett is positive, and the news on Mike Lowell is somewhat surprising:

Francona indicated the ailing third baseman may not play tomorrow night in Game 2 and shed an interesting light on how serious his injury - a torn labrum inside his right hip - might be.

"We may have to make some changes as we go in the series," Francona said. "I spent a lot of time talking to Mike Lowell this morning. It's not just like a little nagging hamstring he's dealing with. I really don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. It's actually a very difficult decision for me. You've got a guy who's the ultimate gamer. He'll go out there every day. We're going back in a couple days to Fenway, facing a lefty. It's very important having his bat in the lineup. So again, there's some decisions we still need to make. I haven't really actually come to a conclusion yet."

And later:

"Mikey Lowell, what he's going through right now, he's going to pay for this later. He knows that. He's beating his body up. As a manager or a teammate, I don't know how you can't respect that from him. He's the ultimate teammate."

Before Francona's press conference, Lowell told reporters the ordeal with his hip, in general, has given him "the worst pain of my life." He ran gingerly to first base after one particular hit last night, when he fisted an inside pitch the other way somewhat awkwardly. Still, he said he got through last night, "fine . . . the regular stuff."

"I don't see any problems," Lowell said. "I actually thought I was going to wake up really sore. I didn't. So, I'm looking forward to a workout, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game.

"I don't think I put myself in a position to just play one game. I don't think that's the right way to do it. I'm looking play the whole postseason. Be at every game. I don't think that's anything special."

Lowell, quite understandably, seems as though he's grown tired of answering questions about his hip. When asked one question about his health, he tried changing the subject.

"A lot of anticipation for the big match-up today, Palin and Biden," Lowell said. "Heard what Anderson Cooper and Larry King had to say. I'm on pins and needles for tonight."

Beckett threw 67 pitches in what Francona called a "real productive" bullpen session, "which is a pretty aggressive side. But I think we needed to do that. Certainly, you're always checking on health. And with Josh, it's important to - he needs to know going into the [Game 3] start that he has available what he needs to win. So today was a very productive day. Nothing was cut short, [his] fastball had some finish to it. Threw all his pitches. I think we were very pleased with the way things went."