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Red Sox-White Sox Preview

Sep 7, 2009 - 5:01 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Boston (78-57) at Chicago (68-69), 2:05 p.m. EDT

The Boston Red Sox are feeling good about their position in the postseason race, but they can't be quite as confident in their ace at the moment.

Josh Beckett will look for his first win in five starts as the visiting Red Sox try to salvage a split of their four-game series with the Chicago White Sox in Monday's Labor Day matinee.

Beckett (14-5, 3.87 ERA) had pitched like a candidate for the Cy Young Award for much of the season, but he has had major problems lately - especially with the home run ball.

The right-hander is 0-1 with an 8.88 ERA in his last four starts, allowing 12 homers in those games after giving up 12 in his first 23 outings. Two of those homers came Wednesday at Tampa Bay, where he allowed five runs in six innings of Boston's 8-5 loss.

He gave up three runs in the second inning of that outing, but will be hoping to build on some late success after he retired the final eight batters he faced.

"We lost. There's not a lot of positives out of it," Beckett said. "Obviously the big inning was the second inning. I thought I made some adjustments after that."

Beckett won't want to adjust much considering his history against the White Sox, whom he's beaten four straight times. In the most recent start, he tossed eight dominating innings in a 5-1 win at U.S. Cellular Field on Aug. 11, 2008.

After the Red Sox lost the first two games of this series by a combined 17-3, Beckett watched teammate Jon Lester shut down the White Sox in a 6-1 win Sunday. The team's lead in the AL wild-card race grew to three games over Texas and a comfortable seven games on AL East rival Tampa Bay.

"This was a big start, especially after the way the first two games went," third baseman Mike Lowell said.

It was also a big loss for the White Sox (68-70) as they fell eight games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central. Chicago had won four straight games before Sunday to prompt thoughts of a late surge, but the team will need to be almost flawless down the stretch to have any chance.

"The way Detroit is playing right now, they are on a roll and we're not," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "It's not impossible, but every day will be tougher, even if you win or you lose."

Guillen will feel good about having Mark Buehrle on the mound as the left-hander seeks a third straight quality start. He still hasn't won since his perfect game against the Rays on July 23, however, going 0-4 with a 5.44 ERA in his last eight outings.

Buehrle (11-7, 3.86), who did not receive a decision after giving up two runs and seven hits in six innings versus Minnesota on Wednesday, is also trying to reverse a tough run of starts against Boston. In his last seven outings against the Red Sox dating back to 2004, he is 1-5 with a 6.91 ERA.

Over most of that time, the White Sox in general have had problems with Boston, losing 14 of 17 between July 20, 2007 and Aug. 26. But a win Monday would give them their first series victory against the Red Sox since they took two of three at Fenway Park from Aug. 13-15, 2004.