Jason Varitek visited Josh Beckett on the mound eight times as Beckett struggled through five innings of work in Game 3.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

BOSTON -- If Josh Beckett is not hurt, all of Red Sox Nation has to be wondering just what is wrong with their playoff ace.

From the moment he took the mound at Fenway Park on Sunday night, Beckett clearly was not himself. He certainly didn't look like one of the premier postseason pitchers of the last decade.

The big righty had trouble finding the plate, worked painfully slowly, was slow to cover first base twice and was visited at the mound twice by pitching coach John Farrell and eight times by catcher Jason Varitek. Beckett could not protect an early 3-1 lead as the Angels accumulated four runs on nine hits. After five innings and 106 pitches, he left for the showers amid a trail of questions.

The outing was the shortest of Beckett's 10 career playoff starts, and he had never given up nine hits in a playoff game.

Beckett wasn't himself from literally the first pitch he threw. Chone Figgins ripped the game's initial offering down the right-field line for a ground-rule double. After two strikeouts, Beckett walked Vladimir Guerrero and then was slow getting to first base on a grounder to Dustin Pedroia that Torii Hunter beat out for a single. With the bases loaded, Beckett walked Juan Rivera on five pitches to force in the game's first run. Beckett threw 30 pitches (14 strikes) in a top of the first that took 22 minutes to complete.

The Angels also put two men on in the second after two men were out, but Beckett got out of it by retiring the hot-hitting Teixeira on a grounder to third.

The Red Sox scored three gift runs in the bottom of the second when a pop fly to center by Jacoby Ellsbury fell in between center fielder Hunter and second baseman Howie Kendrick, but Beckett couldn't hold the 3-1 lead.

Guerrero led off the third by ripping a double into the left-field corner. After getting two big outs, Beckett hung a breaking ball that Mike Napoli crushed off the light tower in left for a two-run homer to tie the game, 3-3. The hit was the first of Napoli's career off Beckett.

In the fourth, a mental error by Beckett nearly led to more runs. With two outs, Teixeira grounded to Youkilis, but Beckett failed to get close enough to the bag as he gathered in the toss from Youkilis. Guerrero walked on four pitches to load the bases, but Beckett retired Hunter on a grounder to second to end the threat.

Beckett had thrown 91 pitches at that point, but Terry Francona chose to stay with him for another inning. After striking out Juan Rivera, Beckett was taken deep for a second time by Napoli to give the Angels a 4-3 lead. Beckett ended his outing with a strikeout of Figgins, and was taken off the hook in the bottom of the fifth when Youkilis singled in Jacoby Ellsbury to knot the score at 4-4.

The Sox crossed their fingers all week as Beckett appeared to respond well after an oblique injury to his right side nine days ago. They held him back from starting either Games 1 or 2 in Anaheim, and Beckett went out of his way on Saturday to proclaim himself ready for action. "I'm fine," he said, simply.

The team's doctors and trainers watched Beckett closely when he did his work in California, but the pitcher grew confident through the week.

"I think we were all preparing for Sunday the whole time. Even right after it happened, the day after it happened, you know, the soreness was probably at its peak. [Sunday] was what we were preparing for," he said. "I think we were all pretty optimistic. I mean, we have a pretty good staff of doctors and generally whenever they tell you and keep reiterating the same thing, you start to believe it."

kmcnamar@projo.com