Perhaps it goes without saying that if the Boston Red Sox are going to become serious Wild Card contenders, they'll need Josh Beckett (4.57 ERA) and Jon Lester (5.49) to pitch a lot better than they've pitched. And the Red Sox' trade-deadline activities -- trading for a relief pitcher, while not trading any useful veterans -- suggests they really are going to keep working hard for a postseason berth.

The early post-deadline news isn't real encouraging, though. Tuesday night, Josh Beckett exited his start against the Detroit Tigers with a "back spasm" ... which, it might be said, is better than back spasms.

There's no word yet about how much time, if any, Beckett's going to miss. A single back spasm doesn't sound too serious, but then again you never know what a back spasm might do; those little critters have minds of their own, and resist instruction by reasonable adults.