Josh Beckett is still searching for answers in his nightmarish 2012 season. (AP)

For a pitcher looking for command and results at the start of a game, Josh Beckett knows what he can and can’t control by this point.

He can control making better pitches. He can’t control a close call at the plate. He admitted both after Friday’s 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays at Fenway.

Beckett admitted after his latest struggle that he’s at a loss to explain why he can’t consistently make pitches and get batters out in key situations.

[Click here to listen to Josh Beckett explain his Friday night outing.]

Beckett was the victim of a controversial call in a two-run first when Colby Rasmus was called safe on a tag play at the plate when TV replays showed his left hand may not have grazed the corner of the plate. Rasmus was ruled safe when it appeared the throw of Will Middlebrooks beat Rasmus and Kelly Shoppach had the plate blocked. Two hits later, the Jays were ahead 2-0.

“Obviously, the results aren’t where you want them to be but you have to keep going out there,” Beckett said. “There’s nothing you can really do.”

Beckett wasn’t playing the “what if” game if home plate umpire Sam Holbrook ruled Rasmus out and Beckett had a runner on first with two outs in a scoreless game.

“Nah, I can’t control that,” Beckett said. “I thought Will made an aggressive play you like to see from guys. It just didn’t end up working out in our favor.”

“There was no hesitation,” Middlebrooks said. “Off the bat, I knew I had a shot at him at home.”

Beckett faced another key moment in the second when he had the chance to get out of the inning with no runs scoring. But with two outs and Yunel Escobar on third, he walked the light-hitting Anthony Gose.

“You have to make the 2-2 pitch or the 3-2 pitch and I didn’t do that,” lamented Beckett, who then allowed a two-run double to Rasmus to extend the Jays’ lead to 4-0.

The good – Beckett had 18 outs, only one in the air. The bad – Beckett’s first inning ERA rose to 10.69 with two more Friday night. The ugly – the Red Sox are now 6-10 in his 16 starts this season.

Where’s his confidence level?

“I don’t know,” Beckett said. “I can’t say I’m looking at a whole lot of positives from that outing. I got burned whenever I didn’t make pitches.”

One thing is for sure, his teammates are trying to stay as positive as possible in showing their support.

“We have all the confidence in the world in Josh,” Thursday night’s hero Cody Ross said. “I said it [after 3-1 walkoff win], you can’t get too up or too down. You stay even keel, come back [Saturday] and get back to business.”

“Josh is a fighter,” Middlebrooks said. “He’s going to go out there and give us all he’s got every time. I don’t doubt that at all.”

In falling to 5-8 on the season, Beckett allowed five runs – four earned – and seven hits over six innings, striking out seven and walking three in the process.

“I thought I made two mistakes in the second inning. In the first inning, I didn’t think the pitches they were hitting [were bad]. I could’ve bounced the curveball to Rasmus a little shorter. The second inning was the inning where things got away from me.”