Beckett Shines Against Florida

In seven innings against the Marlins Sunday afternoon, Josh Beckett allowed only three singles, three walks and one unearned run; he struck out seven.

Beckett is throwing his breaking stuff more often, and with confidence. That is a very good sign. Of his 92 pitches, 24 were breaking balls.

If you look at my mechanics from last year to this year, I'm a lot slower, particularly out of the windup. I think going slower at the beginning and not rushing through your delivery, it helps me just throw the ball late. ...

A lot of it is just relaxing and throwing my pitch and getting back to the way I used to throw -- not trying to throw hard from the get-go. I'm slowing everything down and I'm throwing hard late.

After Beckett left, Brendan Donnelly pitched a perfect 8th and JC Romero allowed five runs in the 9th. Boston still won, 12-6.

The only roster battle of the spring is for the final spots in the pen. With Mike Timlin on the disabled list, there are now two openings for April 2. MLB.com places five guys in the running: Kyle Snyder, Manny Delcarmen, Bryan Corey, Javier Lopez and Craig Hansen. There is no way Hansen is in the running; he'll start the year in Pawtucket. I'd say Snyder and MDC (Corey is a slight possibility).