Beckett struggles on

Josh Beckett made sure of one thing last night. In his last start before the playoffs, Beckett was unable to turn around his unimpressive late-season trend of not pitching all that well. Beckett was knocked around in his first two innings by the light-hitting Indians, who had four runs on six hits plus two walks. While the Red Sox were able to summon a massive rally in the second inning that included a grand slam by Victor Martinez, that fell into the category of the ``expected'' while Beckett's performance is definitely ``concerning.'' Beckett is expected to be the club's starter in Game 2 of the Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, but the beginning to his final start of the season was not the kind of tuneup either he or the Red Sox wanted to see. Beckett had to skip his previous start on Sept. 28, because of mild back spasms. The team and Beckett have said all along the injury was minor and they were being cautious to have him skip that start. If his health is fine, then something else is not, because Beckett has not displayed his top-shelf stuff for awhile. Since Aug. 18, Beckett had posted a 5.90 ERA and 2-2 record during those eight starts heading into last night. In contention for Cy Young consideration in August, Beckett has dropped out of the discussion, as well as out of the club's top pecking order as far as the postseason rotation is concerned. The Red Sox offense did not need much time to dig out of the early hole created by Beckett. Dustin Pedroia led off the game with a home run against Aaron Laffey, who struck out the next three batters. In the second, Laffey was in trouble right away. David Ortiz led off with a double. After a walk by Jed Lowrie, Casey Kotchman (a late sub because third baseman Mike Lowell had a sore right thumb) singled to load the bases. Brian Anderson, playing for J.D. Drew in right field, singled in Ortiz. After a Joey Gathright strikeout, Laffey intentionally walked Pedroia to load the bases. Jason Bay drove in one run with his single, keeping the bases loaded. Facing his former teammate Martinez, Laffey threw a cookie that Martinez blasted into the Red Sox bullpen for the first grand slam of his career. The blast gave the Red Sox an 8-4 lead. The Sox will finish up this latest in a series of postseason tuneups with their regular-season finale this afternoon against the Indians. Clay Buchholz, who was roughed up for a career-high five home runs in his previous start, will get the ball today for the Sox . For the first time in his young career, Buchholz will be needed in the playoffs. After throwing a no-hitter in 2007, he was shut down because of shoulder weakness at the end of the season. Last year, Buchholz was completely out of the picture due to serious underachievement issues that left him in the minors for the second half. Now, he is expected to start Game 3 of the playoffs next week here. ``Physically I feel better now than I have the rest of the year,'' said Buchholz, who is 7-4 with a 3.74 ERA after 15 big league starts. ``My body feels really good going into these last couple of bullpens, even these last couple of starts. My arm feels really good, it's a good thing to feel good at the end of the year. ``Hopefully everything stays the same.'' - msilverman@bostonherald.com