BALTIMORE -- Josh Beckett, complaining of "tingling" in the fingers on his throwing arm, will have his next scheduled start pushed back to next Tuesday.

"We want to be cautious and do the right thing," manager Terry Francona said today.

While the manager was very vague about the situation -- he said Beckett slept on it awkwardly prior to his last start on Sunday -- Beckett admitted this is something he's been dealing with.

"I have some numbness in fingers (specifically his pinky and ring finger) that I'm not used to having," he said. "As far as pain goes, there's not very much pain with it. We just have to figure out what it is because you don't want it to get so bad where it ends up being a really bad problem."

Beckett had been scheduled to start Saturday in Toronto. Instead, Jon Lester will pitch Saturday and Daisuke Matsuzaka will pitch Sunday. After an off-day Monday, Beckett will start against the Yankees in New York next Tuesday.

"It's something I've been dealing with," Beckett said moments ago. "At some point and time we just have to figure out what the hell it is. Obviously, it's not what I want, but at this juncture (being pushed back) is something that needs to happen because there's something going on."

"I've never dealt with it on this level on a day when I was pitching," he said. "Some days were bad and some days were good, but I never had to deal with it on this level on a day when I pitched."

When asked if he thought his symptoms were more serious, Beckett said he didn't think it was.

"That's what we are trying to stay away from," he said. "Anytime something is wrong with your arm and you're a baseball player, especially a pitcher, you obviously think the worst first, but I've been reassured by people that it's not that (serious)."

"It's unfortunate," Beckett added. "It's a bad time of year for it to happen."

Beckett said he's being tested but has not had a arthrogram, which is a test where dye is injected into the area and then an x-ray is taken. The test can be used to check for aneurisms.

"No, I haven't," he said. "I'm not a big fan of those arthrograms because they cause a lot of unneeded soreness. If it gets to that point we'll do whatever we need to do. I don't think that's what it is though."