Red Sox News & Notes – 9/6

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett(notes), right, leaves the game with an undisclosed injury during fourth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto Monday, Sept. 5, 2011.

The Toronto Blue Jays may have walked off the field yesterday with the win but that wasn’t the biggest loss the Boston Red Sox suffered. The bigger loss was the fact that Josh Beckett left the game with a sprained right ankle and is heading back to Boston to have it examined.

Beckett was seemingly cruising along through the first 3 2/3 innings. Then with a 2-2 count on Brett Lawrie, who by the way hit the walkoff home run in the 11th, Beckett came up lame after ball three. Manager Terry Francona, the Red Sox trainer and Jason Varitek all went to the mound and without too much discussion, Beckett was out of the game and Alfredo Aceves was warming up.

Before everyone overreacts, as Beckett said after the game, it could be nothing. Tito was already planning on giving him an extra day of rest between his starts so hopefully that’s the case.

The big concern though is the fact that this is his power leg (the one he pushes off the rubber with). Now I’m not saying that this will happen to Beckett but what usually happens when pitchers try to throw with injuries to their legs, they end up hurting their arms (elbow or shoulder). So you can understand why Beckett came off the mound.

Plus with the bigger picture in mind (the playoffs), it’s better to have Beckett get healthy now and be ready for the playoffs.

This is a minor blow to the pitching staff as of right now with the fact Erik Bedard will not make his next scheduled start with knee soreness. It may just be a matter of him being pushed back a day or two but we won’t know that for the next couple of days.

So now we wait until Tito meets with the media before tonight’s game to learn about the status of Beckett’s gimpy right ankle. If you hear a collective yell in New England around 4 p.m. or so, you know the news wasn’t good. But if you feel the wind pick up, you know the news was good as everyone has let out of a sigh of relief.

I guess I should deliver the other bad news as well. With the loss and the New York Yankees win, the Red Sox are now 1.5 games behind the Yanks for first place in the AL East. The lead over the Tampa Bay Rays is seven games in the AL Wild Card and 7.5 games over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

We’ll be back in a later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now, enjoy the overnight links below by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

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Three paths divergent: Sox prospects Middlebrooks, Tejeda, Pimentel offer lesson in player development [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Red Sox suffer an extra hit [Boston Globe]

Wheeler finds no relief in walkoff loss [Boston Globe]

Bedard to skip next start [Boston Globe]

Sox pop in wrong spot [Boston Herald]

Sprained ankle may strain Sox [Boston Herald]

Bedard to miss a start [Boston Herald]

Wheels come off this time [Boston Herald]

Sox lose to Toronto in 11 innings, 1-0 [CSN New England]

Beckett sprains ankle, to be examined Tuesday [CSN New England]

Rotation uncertainty cause for concern [CSN New England]