Beckett Beauty

Tuesday in Florida was a good day for pitching, and John Beckett was ready. This from the Courant, and then some glowing words from me. The entire article, WITH Jon Lester coverage, is post clickable.

"Josh Beckett pitched three scoreless innings in his second start Monday, allowing one hit in each inning while striking out two in a 2-1 loss to the Dodgers. Beckett snapped off several curveballs, including one for a called third strike to the game's first batter, Tony Abreu.
"I felt strong," said Beckett, who threw 30 pitches, 22 for strikes. "Right now, everyone is trying to get some confidence in their pitches ... but it's nice to throw that curveball this early."

Or, as put in the Herald......"What the Red Sox want to see of Beckett, and what he showed them yesterday, is a pitcher who gets ahead in the count and is not afraid to throw his breaking stuff."

Peter here, and having Beckett as our number two rotation guy is sweet indeed. With a new emphasis of mixing in the curveball instead of shaking off Tek and throwing the "easy to hit out" fastball this year, good things are bound to happen. Below is the scoring by inning line and the Red Sox pitching stats from the game. Donnelly was the hard luck loser, but the shine belongs to Mr. Beckett. He gives us so much hope on this Tuesday, a day that will end up being the coldest March day in 100 years of record keeping here in interior Connecticut. BBRRRR......


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
LA DODGERS 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 8 2
BOSTON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 1 FINAL

WP - CHAD BILLINGSLEY (1-1)
LP - BRENDAN DONNELLY (0-1)
SAVE - TRAVIS SMITH (1)

J Beckett 3 3 0 0 0 2 0
H Okajima 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
B Donnelly (L,0-1) 1 2 1 1 0 2 0
J Tavarez 2 1 1 0 1 2 0
B Corey 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
E Martinez 1 1 0 0 1 2 0