"Before Josh Beckett sprained his right ankle early in yesterday's 1-0 loss in 11 innings to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Red Sox had taken measures to protect another ailing starter.

Erik Bedard will skip his next start, scheduled for Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla., to rest his left knee. With Bedard very much in the mix to be the No.?3 starter in any playoff series and the club holding a comfortable breathing margin in their hunt for a postseason berth, there was mutual agreement on the decision.

"I think it's a positive thing — we're going to skip one start and go from there," Bedard said. "We have enough starters, it's not going to hurt us. So, skip a start, see how it feels and go back at it.""