Beckett: 'Got overruled' in being put on DL

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett said that he had been dealing with discomfort in his right shoulder for some time, and thought that he could make it through two more starts prior to the All-Star break. However, when training room tests started revealing that he was not merely pitching in pain but also losing strength in his shoulder, the team took the decision out of his hands and put him on the 15-day disabled list.

"I kind of got overruled. I told Bobby I thought I could make two more starts, then probably do the things that we did yesterday," Beckett said, alluding to the fact that he underwent an MRI and received treatment on his shoulder on Monday. "It was probably smart. I’m definitely not ready for my career to be over. That’s kind of, when you start getting inflammation plus strength limitations, that’s when you tend to do something catastrophic.

"I thought I could get throught it," he added. "The things we did yesterday, we were planning on doing right before the break. I thought I could get through two more starts, then possibly miss the last one before the break. I kind of got overruled on that deal, just the way my strength was going."

Beckett is 4-7 with a 4.14 ERA in 12 starts, and he's gone at least seven innings in eight of his outings (including each of his last six), tops on the Red Sox. The right-hander, who was scratched on Sunday, said that the MRI revealed no major damage to his shoulder -- "Everything looks good," he said -- and that he expects that he will be ready to return after missing one more start, more or less as soon as he's eligible to come off the disabled list.

"We took the steps yesterday that we needed to put me in that position," said Beckett. "I think [the return date is] going to depend on the other starters, where they line up. Obviously, the way [Jon Lester has] been throwing the ball, [Clay Buchholz has] been throwing the ball, you don’t want to mess them up. I think they’re going to do whatever’s best for them and slot me in there."

Beckett did take issue with the recent suggestion that the Red Sox clubhouse has become a "toxic" environment, referring to that characterization as "completely fabricated."

"I don’t know where people get that from. I think people want that to be the case and I just don’t think it is," said Beckett. "I think this is probably one of the tightest-knit groups I’ve ever been a part of, with dinners on the road, a couple family trips here this last time. We do a lot of stuff together. There’s a good continuity here. I think there are certain people, they want it to be that way, and so they report it that way. It’s just not like that at all.

"This is a really good group of guys," he added. "It’s one of the tighter groups I’ve ever been a part of, and I’ve been a part of some pretty tight groups."

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