| 08 July 2009
The Red Sox appeared to be limping into the All Star break after losing three of thier last four games to Sweattle and Oakland, but Josh Beckett doesn't believe in losing.
In fact, he's only done it once in his last 12 starts. Instead, he's posted eight wins and three no decisions over that span while dropping his ERA from 7.22 on April 30th to 3.62 after last night's 5-2 win.
Beckett is now a 10-game winner. He and Tim Wakefield make the Sox the only team with two 10-game winners and they are two of seven in the entire league... justifying their spots on the 2009 All Star roster. Zack Grienke has come back to earth over the past few weeks and Roy Halladay did not pitch well in his return from the DL, giving Beckett a chance to earn the starting role in the All Star game. They'll all get one more start before the break, but Beckett is clearly locked in right now:
"Obviously I blew it in April," said Beckett (10-3), "but I feel like I've had a good couple of months, really getting back on track."
The offense didn't exactly light up the scoreboard last night, but Jason Bay's 20th ding dong of the season could be a sign that he's coming out of his recent funk. He had two hits last night, as did Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Varitek - who, by the way, is hitting .313 in July.
Ellsbury also stole his 36th base of the year and trails Carl Crawford (41) for the most in the league. If you're into that sort of thing... we'll be tracking that battle the rest of the way in the right-hand column.
Bottom Line: We weren't in a full fledge skid, but Beckett acted as the "stopper" last night, keeping us one game ahead of the Yankees. Wake goes tonight and then we get four games against the Royals, while the Yankees head to Cali to face the Angels.
It sure would be nice to head in to the break a few ganmes up on the Yanks... right?
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