Josh Beckett STUNS Royals...Boston 6 KC 0

The Kansas City Royals didn't stand a chance against a dominatingly effective Josh Beckett as the Boston Red Sox rolled to their third straight victory against that hapless and helpless club. Beckett pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only three hits, striking out seven and walking absolutely nobody. He improved his record to 11-3 and if the AL Cy Young award was given out now, he would be the winner, hands down. Since May 5th, he is 9-1 with a sparkling ERA of 2.13. Quite simply, he is our ace. Sox manager Terry Francona had these words to say...

"He attacked the strike zone with a fastball and it was very obvious they wanted to hit his fastball,” Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He worked ahead and stayed out of the middle. . . . He was so good today. That was fun to watch. I don’t think it’s a coincidence when Beckett and Jon Lester start getting deep in games, that makes us a better team,” Francona said. “Beckett’s ERA has gone from what it was the first month to now. He’s been the Beckett that we’ve come to appreciate. That’s a good guy to lean on.”

The man himself said this...

“I’m making pitches when I need to,” Beckett said after recording his second shutout in five outings. “To not give up runs to big league hitters, that’s what you have to do. You have to make pitches when you’re in those situations.”

It was a truly entertaining and fun game to watch and a future star who goes by the name of Aaron Bates was called up from Pawtucket to play first base. He responded by bashing three hits, including two doubles. He had a few words for the media after the last game before the All Star break concluded...

"We have an unbelievable minor league staff and they do a good job of preparing guys and picking players that can help out,” Bates said. “I was honored that they thought I could help out for a while. You just try and learn as much as you can and off the field stay out of everybody’s way. You try and be a sponge as much as possible. There are a lot of great players up here and you try and learn as much as possible.”

Sponge away, Aaron! In other Red Sox news, Mike Lowell will be activated within a week so we might not see Bates for a while and none other than Clay Buchholz has been named as Friday's starter against the Toronto Blue Jays up in Canada. Is he being showcased as part of a trade for Roy "Doc" Halladay? Who knows? I hope he'll do well. He had a great first half pitching for Pawtucket, going 7-2.

Tomorrow I'll have an overview of the first 88 games of the 2009 season. I like what I see...so do you, I hope. Click on the title of this post for all the glowing news about Josh and as always, BE WELL. Enjoy your Monday. Thanks for popping in, my Constant Readers (thank you Stephen). See ya..