In the first inning of a 5-4 Red Sox loss, Beckett was trying to hold Chone Figgins on second base with Abreu at bat. After a long pause by Beckett, Abreu was granted time out. But Beckett had already begun his delivery, and, he said, he did not want to stop for fear of injury.

Beckett let the ball fly, and it whizzed by Abreu's head - a location the pitcher insists was unintentional. That brought everyone onto the field from the dugouts and bullpens, including several incensed Angels.

``It's just, it's what we're taught to do,'' Beckett said. ``We have to kind of protect ourselves in those situations, and stopping is not a good way to do that. You can end your career on one bad slip or something like that.''

Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was suspended one game and fined. Manager Mike Scioscia, center fielder Torii Hunter, and reliever Justin Speier were fined. And those four were ejected, but Beckett was not.

``Did he throw it up and in? Yeah,'' umpire crew chief Joe West said Sunday. ``Do we believe he threw it at Abreu? No. Would we have warned him had both benches not emptied? Probably not, but because both benches emptied, we did issue a warning.

``The Angels were the aggressors. That's why they were ejected.''

West's view made Francona rest easy after the game. The prospect of a Beckett suspension did not occur to him until yesterday morning, when general manager Theo Epstein informed him of it over the phone. No MLB representative contacted Francona, he said.

``I would have liked to have talked to somebody,'' Francona said. ``When Theo called me this morning, that's not what I was expecting the conversation to be about. It sounds like they overruled the umpires. That's disturbing.''

While the Red Sox felt disappointment, in Seattle the Angels felt vindication.

``It makes us feel good that MLB supported our position, especially since we were somehow painted as the aggressors,'' Scioscia said. ``Upon reflection, MLB understood that Beckett's actions led to the dugouts emptying.''

On Sunday, Scioscia was upset not only with the pitch - which he thought was intentional - but also Beckett's reaction. After Abreu raised his arms and stared at Beckett, Beckett marched aggressively toward Abreu.

``That was about as flagrant as anything I have seen in this game, and it's unfortunate,'' Scioscia said Sunday. ``Usually, the pitcher will show a little bit of remorse. We didn't see any of that from Beckett.''