Josh Beckett Cruises For Two Innings On Thursday....Daisuke And Manny Debut Today

The Red Sox played Northeastern last evening, and it marked the spring debut for the righthander Josh Beckett. And he looked good. He wants to make up for his high ERA and the high number of gopher balls he threw last year. This from the Friday Courant.....

"Beckett wants to do better than last season, his first with the Red Sox. The biggest factor, Beckett said, is to throw his breaking ball for strikes, thus making his fastball more effective. Against the Huskies, Beckett said: "Mission accomplished."
Beckett had five strikeouts in two innings as the Red Sox beat Northeastern 11-0 before 5,189 at City of Palms Park. Beckett threw 21 pitches, 18 strikes. The righthander threw a first-pitch strike to all seven batters he faced.
Manager Terry Francona said that the concentration on breaking pitches shouldn’t be interpreted as an indication that Beckett plans to transform himself into the next Bert Blyleven.
“(The curve) is a secondary pitch,” he said. “He’s still a fastball pitcher. If he commands his fastball down, up, in and out, it will be amazing how that breaking ball will have more effect.”

Peter here. Granted, he was pitching against wide-eyed college kids, but I hope this starts a season-long trend for Mr. Beckett. I hope he trusts Tek and shakes him off far fewer, if any, times this season compared to last. And an effective, biting and deadly curve sets up a lights-out fastball so well. Something Josh did NOT do in '06....and that would be mixing up his pitch selection and shaking off Tek way too much. Last year, it was "when in doubt, throw the fastball." With "long fly balls, caught by no one" results.
And today marks the spring debuts of our quirky but lovable slugger Manny Ramirez and our Japanese import supreme Daisuke Matsuzaka. Again from the Friday Courant......

"Today's day-night doubleheader at City of Palms will be filled with firsts. Manny Ramirez makes his exhibition debut in the first game against the Blue Jays, the undercard for the international spectacle that will be Daisuke Matsuzaka's start against Boston College.
NESN will televise that game's first hour, starting at 6 p.m., to show Matsuzaka's scheduled two innings of work. WTIC-AM will also broadcast the game.
"We're all waiting for that," Curt Schilling said. "There's an entire nation waiting to see that happen, Japan and Red Sox Nation. It's going to be exciting. I don't think he's coming over here to try and pitch. I think he's coming over here to be great."

Peter here, and today will be an exciting one for those lucky enough to be down in Florida. And for us in NESN-land. And for tens of thousands of baseball fans in Japan, where the game will be shown in its entirety in the early morning hours of Saturday. And they're Red Sox fans too! RSN is growing by leaps and bounds. The dinner hour will be a fun time as we watch our new pitcher give the thrill of a lifetime to the members of the BC baseball team. And hopefully a few thrills for us, too, members of RSN who are lucky enough to receive NESN. So enjoy! And the entire article, including a blurb about Mike Timlin, can be accessed by clicking on the title. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your weekend, although you haven't heard the last from me! Not by a long shot. And at 6pm, don't forget to tune in and enjoy the "Daisuke hour," brought to you by the good folks at Brylcreem. "A little dab will do ya!".......oh, never mind! And for those of you who don't remember Brylcreem, well, you had to be there. It was a hair managing cream that came in a toothpaste sized type of tube. Very popular when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Well, maybe a little more recent than that, but....