Josh Beckett

Get through to him Steve Gould Baltimore Sun As much as Josh Beckett's comments show a disconnect with — perhaps even outright disrespect for — his team and its fans, the Red Sox have little recourse other than to try to hammer into his head why his behavior is so rankling. And good luck with that. Don't let Beckett's horrid outing Thursday or his 5.97 season ERA fool you: He's still a good pitcher and one the Red Sox need. Four of his six outings have been quality starts, and all the outcry over beer and chicken doesn't change the fact that he posted a 2.89 ERA and 8.2 Ks/9 IP last season.

Get through to him Steve Gould Baltimore Sun As much as Josh Beckett's comments show a disconnect with — perhaps even outright disrespect for — his team and its fans, the Red Sox have little recourse other than to try to hammer into his head why his behavior is so rankling. And good luck with that. Don't let Beckett's horrid outing Thursday or his 5.97 season ERA fool you: He's still a good pitcher and one the Red Sox need. Four of his six outings have been quality starts, and all the outcry over beer and chicken doesn't change the fact that he posted a 2.89 ERA and 8.2 Ks/9 IP last season.

Orioles outfielder Luke Scott irked Red Sox starter Josh Beckett last night by watching his two-run home run exit the ballpark (if you cranked a 426-foot homer onto Eutaw Street, you would stop and admire it, too). And after Scott flipped his bat on his way out of the batter's box, Beckett gave him an earful as he rounded the bases. Apparently, Scott was too busy basking in the glory of his homer to notice that Beckett was yelling and staring him down. “I didn’t notice anything,’’ Scott said after the Orioles' thrilling 5-4 victory at Camden Yards.

Despite having yet to throw a Grapefruit League game pitch this spring, Orioles right-hander Tommy Hunter came out of his four-inning Single-A minor league game Friday confident he will be healthy and ready for Opening Day. Hunter, who entered the spring as a top-of-the-rotation candidate, threw 60 pitches and said he threw all four of his pitches for strikes. "I'm ready to go," Hunter said. "I'm good to go right now. You could throw me out there for five innings and I'll be all right.

On deck -- Red Sox vs. Rangers --Josh Beckett is scheduled to make his Boston debut tonight.

Josh Beckett Red Sox pitcher He has allowed one earned run in seven innings in each of his three starts for a 1.29 ERA. Ichiro Suzuki Mariners right fielder He is 0-for-11 in the first three games against the Red Sox.

Baseball Red Sox@Orioles 7 p.m. [MASN] The Orioles get their first look at the defending World Series champions in classic style. The Orioles have Jeremy Guthrie against postseason pitching hero Josh Beckett (above). The two-game home series that begins tonight is an opportunity for the rebuilding Orioles, hanging tough at .500, to make up a little ground on the American League East-leading Red Sox.

Orioles top hitting prospect Manny Machado made his first start in an exhibition game Saturday against the Boston Red Sox, batting ninth and playing shortstop. The 19-year-old was even more excited when he found out he'd be facing right-hander Josh Beckett, who was a star with the Florida Marlins while Machado was growing up in Miami. “At first, it's great to see this guy pitch. I have seen him since I was a little kid,” said Machado, who was the Orioles' first-round pick (third overall)

The bat felt different in Kevin Millar's hands, probably because it didn't belong to him. Or maybe because there was a hit stored inside it. Heaven knows, Millar hasn't been producing many of those lately. Mired in a slump that drained points from his batting average and earned him another seat on the bench yesterday, Millar completed a four-run rally in the ninth inning with a two-out single off Kansas City Royals reliever Jimmy Gobble that gave the Orioles an 8-7 victory before the remnants of a crowd of 25,530.

BOSTON -- In manager Sam Perlozzo's eyes, what happened from the fifth to the eighth innings yesterday, when a winnable game turned into a 13-4 rout by the Boston Red Sox, can be traced to the past several weeks when Orioles starters have consistently failed to go deep into games. So even when the Orioles did the improbable yesterday, erasing a three-run deficit to tie the game in the sixth against Boston ace Curt Schilling, Perlozzo sensed an onslaught was coming. Orioles @Red Sox Today, 2:05 p.m., Ch. 13, MASN2, 105.7 FM Starters: Jeremy Guthrie (2-1, 4.64)

Orioles top hitting prospect Manny Machado made his first start in an exhibition game Saturday against the Boston Red Sox, batting ninth and playing shortstop. The 19-year-old was even more excited when he found out he'd be facing right-hander Josh Beckett, who was a star with the Florida Marlins while Machado was growing up in Miami. “At first, it's great to see this guy pitch. I have seen him since I was a little kid,” said Machado, who was the Orioles' first-round pick (third overall)

The first game of the season-ending "Fan Appreciation Celebration" at Oriole Park quickly turned into something completely different in the sixth inning on Monday night when Vladimir Guerrero kept his date with international baseball history. Guerrero singled up the middle in his third at-bat of the Orioles' 6-3 win over the Boston Red Sox and passed Julio Franco to become the all-time major league leader in hits by a Dominican-born player. He also sparked a four-run rally that dragged the reeling Red Sox into a wild card dead heat with the surging Tampa Bay Rays.

If the suddenly stumbling and bumbling Boston Red Sox fail to make the playoffs, some credit must go to the perennial basement dwellers of the American League East. For the seventh time in nine games, the last-place Orioles inexplicably have beaten a playoff contender. On Wednesday night, before an increasingly nervous, sellout crowd of 38,004 at Fenway Park, Mark Reynolds hit two homers and the Orioles beat the AL wild-card-leading Red Sox, 6-4. "Our guys have had a good look on their face for about two weeks now," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

Orioles outfielder Luke Scott irked Red Sox starter Josh Beckett last night by watching his two-run home run exit the ballpark (if you cranked a 426-foot homer onto Eutaw Street, you would stop and admire it, too). And after Scott flipped his bat on his way out of the batter's box, Beckett gave him an earful as he rounded the bases. Apparently, Scott was too busy basking in the glory of his homer to notice that Beckett was yelling and staring him down. “I didn’t notice anything,’’ Scott said after the Orioles' thrilling 5-4 victory at Camden Yards.

Red Sox and Reds Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune They're healthy. They're loaded. They're headed for a rematch of the 1975 World Series. The Red Sox and Reds have the type of pitching that should help them outlast the competition. Both are easy picks in their divisions, even though the Red Sox finished behind the Rays and Yankees a year ago. They've added Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, and get all of their 2010 casualties (including Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Josh Beckett)

The Red Sox aren't expecting Josh Beckett back until late July. He's not expected to face hitters until July 1, and manager Terry Francona says Beckett will need three rehab starts. … Interim Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez is the first major league manager from Puerto Rico, a distinction that would have gone to the White Sox's Joey Cora if he had been hired by any of the teams with which he has interviewed. … One of Kerry Wood's problems with the Indians has been a lack of work.

GREATEST COMEBACK The Orioles were trailing 10-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, when they mounted their greatest comeback. The Orioles' largest previous comeback was Sept. 2, 1956, when they made up an eight-run deficit at Boston to win, 11-10. On Tuesday night, the Orioles sent 10 batters up in the seventh, had seven hits and scored five runs. Then, in the eighth, another 10 batters hit, with six more hits and another five runs. BIG INNING FOR ELLSBURY Boston's Jacob Ellsbury had a pretty good game - in one inning - Tuesday night.