| 28 August 2009
Josh Beckett has been the ace of the Red Sox this season... but he's been "Brad Penny-esque" over his past two starts.
Two starts ago, against the Toronto Blue Jays coincidentally, Beckett was rocked from 7 runs on 9 hits and 3 homers through 5.1 innings. Sox fans were hoping their ace would bounce back in a big series against the Yankees, but but the Yanks shellacked Beckett for 8 runs on 9 hits and FIVE home runs!
That might have been the worst start of Josh Beckett's career, but pitching coach John Farrell said that Beckett is healthy and his struggles are mechanically based and can be corrected.
"We're talking about fine adjustments that lead to night-and-day different results," Farrell said. "There may be some times when maybe some added effort or an attempt to get some added velocity has caused him to get a little spread out (with his delivery) and caused him to throw the baseball on a little bit more of a flat plane rather than the downward angle that all pitchers need."
Sounds simple enough, but if Beckett can't right the ship, the Sox will be in serious trouble. Lester has been nasty for three months, but the Sox will spend September trying to figure out who their No. 3 starter will be when they make the playoffs: Tim Wakefield and his injured back/leg, Clay Buchholz and his inconsistent performance in the majors or a toss up between Junichi Tazawa and Daisuke Matsuzaka who hasn't pitched in the pros since June 19th.
I expect Beckett to bounce back tonight and bury our concerns under a pile of Ks, but the Bottom Line is: The Sox NEED Beckett AND Lester to be on point if they want to make the playoffs and succeed in the playoffs.
Beckett has not fared well against Toronto. He's 3-5 with a 6.44 ERA in 11 starts against the Jays. You know what happened the last time he saw them, but it should be noted that he's 8-1 with a 3.19 ERA at home this season... so that should help.
The Jays will counter with Scott Richmond. Richmond started his 2009 season strong, but he's struggled lately, posting a 6.18 ERA in his last three starts. Richmond pitched well but too the loss against the Sox back on May 31st... and he'll be facing a much improved Red Sox offense this time around.
The Sox have won 7 of their last 10 thanks to scoring 7.9 rund per game through that stretch. It started with a sweep in Toronto... let's hope the Jays bring us a fiew more wins this weekend!
So what do you guys think, is this a must win game for Beckett?
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