Hamstring keeps Beckham out of the lineup

PITTSBURGH - Shortstop Tim Beckham classifies himself as "day-to-day" after sustaining a hamstring injury Saturday night at Camden Yards. He may have to sit out the Pirates series, but he isn't conceding the rest of the week.

Beckham felt the hamstring grab while running to first base in the ninth inning. J.J. Hardy started on Sunday afternoon, as planned, and Beckham remains on the bench for tonight's series opener against the Pirates.

"It's feeling all right," he said.

"My leg's been tight for, I'd say, a couple weeks now, but nothing that showed signs that I shouldn't be in the lineup. Everything I was feeling I could play through and I continued to play through."

Beckham beat out an infield single and had to come out of the game. Hardy pinch-ran for him in the 9-6 loss to the Rays.

"It just grabbed on me that last at-bat running down the line in the ninth inning," Beckham said. "Right now you just don't want to rush it and get out there and make the situation a lot worse than what it is."

Beckham is trying to finish on a positive note after scuffling this month. He's batting .188/.266/.365 in 20 games with only 16 hits in 85 at-bats.

"Oh man, I really do want to get back out there," he said. "It's a bummer sitting over there, sitting around the locker room not being able to do anything. It just sucks anytime you can't play.

"For me, I love to go out there and compete and it sucks to sit here and watch the game. But I've got all the confidence in the world in the team and I know they're going to go out there and win. But yeah, just being out there every day and contributing and helping the team win a ballgame means a lot to me and it kind of sucks just sitting around the locker room not being able to do anything right now."

The Orioles have four games remaining after tonight, including a weekend series at Tropicana Field, and Beckham isn't sure whether the hamstring will force him to be shut down. He continues to receive treatment from head athletic trainer Richie Bancells.

"I have no idea," he said. "I'll go day-to-day and trust what Richie is saying and trust what he feels and is seeing and go about it that way. I definitely want to be in there for the Tampa series, for sure."