| 02 September 2009
Jon Lester got the job done last night and has looked like the Red Sox ace over the past two weeks thank to Josh Beckett's struggles. But John Farrell and Terry Francona continue to say that Beckett is not hurt of fatigued - he's simply lost his command:
"The one thing he won't back away from is a challenge, whether it's preparation for his next start or accomplishing some of the goals he has," Farrell told the team's official Web site. "The short-term goal is to regain that same type of consistency. This isn't a health-related issue. This isn't a fatigue-related issue. This is a little bit more of just some timing in his delivery to allow that execution at the bottom of the strike zone to be more consistent."
Mike Felger at 98.5 The Sports Hub here in Boston, made the argument yesterday that Beckett must be tired because he didn't get the 15-day mid season "vacation" he's had in the past. In 2007, Beckett took a break in July, tallied 30 regular season starts and won 20 games. He went on to dominate in the post season and win a World Series.
The Sox haven't had the luxury of shutting down Beckett this year, but he can put all of our fears to bed with a strong performance tonight against the Rays. Yahoo! summed up tonight's matchup pretty well:
The last time Beckett pitched at the Trop he gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings in a 13-0 loss. The Rays' starter and winner in that contest was Garza (7-9, 3.95), who held the Red Sox to one hit and one walk while striking out a season-high 10 in 7 2-3 innings.
While Garza's overall numbers this season are underwhelming, he continues to baffle the Red Sox. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and 15 hits allowed in 28 2-3 innings over four starts versus Boston, and 5-9 with a 4.39 ERA against all other opponents. Including two wins in last October's AL championship series, Garza is 7-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 12 starts against the Red Sox.
He dominates most of their biggest bats. Boston slugger David Ortiz is 2 for 18 with nine strikeouts against Garza, Mike Lowell is 3 for 20, JD Drew is 2 for 16 and Dustin Pedroia is 5 for 26.
Jason Varitek will be behind the plate tonight for Beckett, so it will be interesting to see wh Tito sits tonight. Youk, Lowell and Ortiz are all hitting over .300 through the past six games, so we may see V-Mart (.217 this week) get some rest tonight after catching yesterday.
Beckett will need to keep the ball in the yard tonight, and thankfully, some of the Rays biggest bats have struggled against The Commander.
Pena is 3 for 22 (.136), Longoria is 5 for 20 (.250) and Burrell is 9 for 44 (.205). That said Bartlett (.292), Crawford (.333) and Iwamura (.310) all hit Beckett well.
Bottom Line: This could be a 2-1 game or it could get ugly. Let's hope it only gets ugly for The Llama... watch out the spit!
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
