Arms: Beckett, Tazawa, Mills, Wilson; Dogs closing

After two rough starts, Josh Beckett can do a lot to soothe uneasy New England nerves with a solid outing tonight against the Blue Jays.

Junichi Tazawa has an array of off-speed pitches. But when he cannot command them, his fastball can get smacked, like on Thursday night against the White Sox.

Tazawa's next outing should be Sept. 2 at Tampa Bay. But with Monday a day off for Boston, the Red Sox could skip his start.

Adam Mills made his third straight solid start for Pawtucket (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K).

And while we're talking about pitchers, second-round pick Alex Wilson (0.55 ERA) continues to shine in Lowell with brief outings (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K). In 33 innings, he has 30 K and 7 BB.

The Sea Dogs beat Binghamton to close to 3.5 games behind New Britain (and a half game behind third-place Trenton). New Britain has a four-game series at Trenton, while Portland goes to Manchester, N.H., for five games.

That series in Manchester includes a doubleheader Saturday (with Dice-K pitching the first game), but the rain is coming.

On Thursday, Daniel Nava (.411) keeps hitting and was 3-for-5 ... Jorge Jimenez (.290) was 2-for-5, Lars Anderson (.243) was 3-for-5, as was Jason Place (.253).

Greenville pitcher/shortstop Casey Kelly (.240) went 3-for-5.

Here are the wild card standings

AL
Boston (73-54)
Texas (71-55), 1.5 games back
Tampa Bay (69-57), 3.5

EL North
New Britain (66-64)
Trenton (63-67), 3
Portland (62-67), 3.5