Dempster making the most of his suspension

LOS ANGELES -- Red Sox right-hander Ryan Dempster served the final game of his five-game suspension on Sunday, and he is looking forward to taking the ball against the White Sox on Friday night at Fenway Park.

Considering that Dempster has struggled of late, he hopes that down time will help him get ready for a strong finish.

"My arm is probably benefiting from it," Dempster said. "There's a silver lining in everything. I'm not 26 anymore, I'm 36, so this little bit of a rest is probably good for my arm."

In the meantime, Dempster is still staying sharp. He threw what he estimated to be an 80-pitch bullpen session on Saturday.

"I did everything like I would to warm up before the game, pregame, all that kind of stuff," said Dempster. "I'll just keep throwing good bullpens or flatground and stay sharp."

Over his last seven starts, Dempster is 1-1 with a 6.81 ERA. He said that health has not been an issue.

"Just experiencing poor location of my pitcher's arm. Been working on trying to fix that," quipped Dempster. "I have to do my job and I have to do a better job than I've done the last few times out, other than the start in Toronto."

Dempster was suspended for hitting Alex Rodriguez after three other pitches that were inside to the Yankees slugger.

David Ortiz was critical of Dempster because he felt the incident gave the Yankees added motivation in a comeback win.

Dempster said he has no issue with Ortiz.

"He has his opinion and it's his right to have every part of his opinion. This is his team," Dempster said. "I'm sure he was probably a little frustrated with how everything happened, and that's OK. We joked about it. We're totally cool."