As impressive as Boston’s new young closer Jonathan Papelbon has been, and as easy as it is to dislike–though impossible not to admire–Curt Schilling, I’m prepared to regard Josh Beckett as Red Sox enemy number one by the end of the year. He’s good enough to fear and arrogant enough to loathe. John Harper has a piece on Beckett in the Daily News today which indicates just how volatile the pitcher can be:

Beckett is ultra-cocky, and seems to consider himself something of a guardian of the game’s unwritten rules regarding conduct on the ballfield. Four times over the last two years he has publicly criticized players for what he considered showing him up, and in two of those incidents he nearly ignited brawls.

Late in spring training he got into it with Ryan Howard when the Phillies’ slugger was slow to leave the batter’s box on a long fly ball that wound up being caught at the wall. Beckett yelled at Howard to run, using rather salty language to tell him to tell him to stop acting like a prima donna, and then to get back to the dugout.

“I wanted to make a point,” Beckett explained later that day. “You look like a jackass whenever you hit the ball like that and you’re pimping it, and you’re out. I’m kind of about respecting the game, and I’m not the type of guy to not say anything.”

I wonder what he’ll say to his teammate Manny Ramirez, who can be timed getting around the bases with a calendar after one of his majestic home runs. Harper concludes:

Last night a former teammate of Beckett’s, a player who is a member of neither the Red Sox nor Yankees, predicted trouble ahead.

“He’s not afraid, I’ll give him that,” the player said. “But one of these times he’s going to say something to the wrong guy. It’s more likely to happen when emotions are high, like when Boston and New York play. One of these days somebody’s going to go after him.”

Last night’s rain-out will be made up as part of a twi-night double header in mid-August. Instead of a tense four game series at Fenway Park, it will kick off what is now scheduled to be a five game series. Now, that’s serious.