April 11th, 2007 → 9:54 am @ Seth Mnookin
I was as impressed with Josh Beckett’s performance yesterday as anyway was. In fact, I was probably more impressed than people who were watching the game from the heated comfort of their own homes, because every eight-pitch, up-and-down inning he turned in seemed like a particular blessing to someone freezing his ass off in a wooden seat built for a guy who tops out at 140 lbs. But let’s wait a bit before we christen the Sox’s rotation as one likely to harken back to the glory days of the Orioles (for those of you younger fans out there, yes, the Orioles did have glory days) and post multiple 20-game winners. Beckett’s two starts this year have been against the Royals and a Mariners staff that’s been building snowmen for the past week. And he’s turned in precious few starts like this since moving north last year; indeed, as Jackie MacMullan inadvertently points out in her column today, Beckett’s moments of brilliance have come against less than prodigious lineups: there was last July’s four-hitter against the Royals, last September’s the-year’s-already-over six-hitter against the Twins, and yesterday’s game. I’m pretty certain Manny isn’t going to end the year with no home runs and a .280 slugging percentage. I’m also unconvinced that we’ve seen Beckett turn the page. Let’s see how he pitches when he gets in trouble, when he needs to rely on his off-speed stuff instead of having being able to play around with whatever he wants due to the freedom that comes with a 46-run lead.
Post Categories: 2007 Home Opener & Josh Beckett
April 11th, 2007 → 9:21 am @ Seth Mnookin
“I’d never do anything like that. There are fucking kids in the stands.”
— Brendan Donnelly, when asked if he’d made an obscene gesture at Jose Guillen after striking him out in the eighth.
Post Categories: 2007 Home Opener & Brendan Donnelly
