Beckett Ready For Wednesday Start, No Issues In Red Sox Clubhouse
BOSTON (CBS) - Red Sox starter Josh Beckett is ready to take the mound Wednesday afternoon against the Texas Rangers.
Beckett appeared on WAAF Tuesday morning, and said he could start Tuesday night if Jon Lester wanted an extra day's rest. But Beckett is confident the back issues that chased him from his start a week ago -- and caused him to miss his scheduled start on Sunday -- are a thing of the past.
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"It was just muscle spasms," Beckett told WAAF. "We traveled late in from New York and I didn't sleep particularly well, had a lot of anxiety and stress things going on, exterior distractions. I don't think that a lot of it was great for my back. And going out and pitching on that mound, it was very wet, and my back just locked up on me."
Among those "exterior distractions" were trade rumors that the right-hander was being shopped. Beckett's scheduled start was the day of the MLB Trade Deadline, and the hours leading up to his duel against the Detroit Tigers will filled with questions if he would still be a member of the Red Sox for much longer.
"I think just this past week was different for me. There were rumors, apparently not being brought up by the Red Sox," he said. "I was hearing from everybody that none of this was true, they assured me of that, but I still had to answer questions about it. It was very confusing, and that's where I think the anxiety comes in. Not so much stress, but more anxiety than anything because you're not real sure how things are going."
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While the trade rumors are gone, the talk of a clubhouse "snitch" is the new hot topic. But that's another storyline that Beckett shrugged off.
"I don't even know. I heard something about the Will Middlebrooks thing, but I'm almost positive it was Bobby that brought that up to the media," he said. "I don't know. Like I said, you can't pay attention to it. I've got too many other things to do, basically. I don't have time to pay attention to what Joe [expletive] is writing."
He also said there is no dysfunction in the Red Sox clubhouse.
"No, it's the exact opposite. There are people who want it to be that way, and it's not so it makes them mad when they come in there and we're laughing and joking and having a good time," said Beckett. "They want the perception to be something, and that's what they're going to write. There's some very, very good media outlets here and there's some very, very not good ones. The ones that are not good are the ones that want to perception to be what they want it to be no matter what, and that's what they're going to write."
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"There's nothing you can do about it, and that's the way it's been here for a long time," he continued. "I talked to Jim Rice about it a few days ago. Jimmy was obviously not a fan of the media at all when he was here and had a lot of trouble with that and ended up to where he thinks it actually cost him a couple of years on the ballot for the Hall of Fame. That's just the way it is, that's the way it's always been here apparently. They talk about Ted Williams had problems with it when he was here."
