Stop it

"I think there's a level of pride in here," Jason Varitek said. "We still want a chance to win that division. We want to be able to do that, along with ultimately getting into the postseason. But ultimately, even before that, we want to play good baseball."

Beckett's 20th win would go a long way toward starting the Red Sox on that path. To that end, he needs the offense to begin to produce more than it did in three disappointing games in Toronto, in which it scored a total of five runs.

So, now that the pressure is on, the losses have piled up, and it has been established that Beckett needs to play stopper yet again, this is the time to talk about what he could achieve tonight against the Devil Rays' Scott Kazmir. For all his success in his relatively short career, Beckett is on the verge of winning 20 for the first time. He's already established a career high, despite missing two starts with an avulsion on his finger.

"He's been such a model of consistency this year for us," pitching coach John Farrell said. "It's a [heck] of a feat for him, if he does achieve it.

"I don't think you ever go into a year, or the start of the season, thinking, 'Here's a 20-game winner.' He possesses the physical abilities, and over time, I became much more aware that he possesses the other intangibles, the mental capacity, the - I know it becomes a cliché - but the ability to remain focused on the pitch at hand. What he should be most proud of is that, as things have gone well, he has not taken things for granted or abandoned an approach that has worked."

With his 19-6 record, his 3.20 ERA, his 180 strikeouts and 38 walks, his 15 home runs allowed (as opposed to 36 last season), Beckett has put his name up with C.C. Sabathia and Chien-Ming Wang, whom he defeated last Saturday, as candidates for the Cy Young Award. But he has also set himself apart.