Boston SP Beckett throws simulated game

[March 05, 2011]  FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Boston Red Sox right-hander Josh Beckett threw 40 pitches in a three-inning, simulated game on the back field at City of Palms Park on Friday.

Beckett missed his scheduled start on Thursday. He experienced mild concussion symptoms after being hit in the left temple on Monday by an errant ball while shagging flies in the outfield during batting practice.

Beckett is expected to make his next start on Tuesday. The Red Sox have split-squad games that day against the Astros at home and in Jupiter, Fla., against the Cardinals.

Beckett faced six Red Sox minor leaguers, throwing a mix of all his pitches.

"I felt good," he said. "It's a (simulated) game. There's just not a lot of adrenaline and stuff that goes into that. But I like it when the guys go up there and swing. (It) gives you a little bit of feedback one way or the other. It's hard to get a lot of feedback if the guys don't swing, just not a lot of things that correlate to a game unless you have a little bit of something going on."

Beckett said although he has not lifted weights since the incident, he feels that his overall condition and arm strength are where they need to be. The work he's been able to get in has allowed him to continue his regular progression.

"Yeah, I think I'm right there," he said. "I wouldn't have thrown that many pitches. I probably would have thrown less than that, in fact, unless I would have ran into a long inning and even then, they wouldn't have let me go over so many pitches in one inning.

"As far as workload, yes. As far as the other things that go into actually pitching in a spring training game, (those) are a little bit different, whether it be routine or stuff like that."

Beckett said he is still feeling the effects of being hit.

"I'm actually good," he said. "(But) I'm really sore on the left side of my head. My jaw and stuff like that are pretty sore. But I think I'm pretty much back to normal."

He didn't notice the concussion symptoms until the day after the incident.

"I don't think initially I was that scared," he said. "It actually took when I went to lunch (the next day) and I couldn't do it. I couldn't be away from my house without laying down. And that's when I finally said, 'Hey, there's something wrong here.' Because I was kind of resistant to even thinking I had a concussion.

"I tried to come in the next day. I was like 'Oh, I'm ready to go back to work. Let's get this over with.' And I found out that day when I went to lunch. It was a little bit of a setback."

Beckett is coming off a disappointing 6-6 season in which he had a 5.78 ERA with 45 walks.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.