It wasn't long ago that Josh Beckett was the guy the Sox wanted on the mound after a loss. In 2009, according to ESPN, the Sox went 12-3 in games started by Beckett after a loss and 25-27 when any other pitcher was on the mound trying to stop a losing streak.
So here Beckett is, asked to reclaim the form he had that season in more ways than one. The best way to erase a bad weekend is to have a good week. Let's hope Josh and Co. kick it off well. Comment away!
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32 replies on “The Stopper: Sox-Tribe Gamer I”
The Sox just look all kinds of awful so far. Bats anemic, Beckett thankful the ball is not carrying. Dreadful baseball so far.
Just got in from mowing the lawn in time to see Salty get his first hit. Good timing. Tomlin’s looking good. Pretty tired of the Sox’ bats being silenced by guys who aren’t all that great.
Going to need 4+ innings from the pen tonight. This has been a painful start to a season, utterly frustrating.
Maybe make that 5 innings from the pen?
Could this year have begun any worse? JFC.
84 pitches in four innings against this crappy team. Nice effort, Beckett.
Let’s just say that the Yankees will tear this version of Beckett to pieces. Over/under on innings/runs if he throws like this? 3/7.
This is demoralizing. Time to go watch a little DVR’d Champions League. The heck with watching hideous baseball for the moment. Maybe by May the Sox will have actually done something positive.
And to think my wife got her family to pitch in for the Extra Innings package for my birthday this year after reading all the positive stories and listening to me talk about how this should be a great season for the Sox….not that I’m worried or anything. It is only game 4 after all….right?
Who would have thought we’d know the answer to the question “will the Sox win 100?” before the first week was already out?
This season has been a big fat fucking joke so far.
Beckett is out there talking to himself on the mound, not a good sign. Could the pitching woes be related to having a new pitching coach this year?
I think the pitching woes might be due to the fact that the pitching might be a year older and a year less good. I am not worried about Lester (or Buchholz, as much), but Lackey and Beckett are not getting younger or stronger. I sure hope they are career average (that was my best-case hope), but that may not have be realistic, even.
I need a reality check – it’s only four games and a quick streak could be in the cards to get the Sox back in stride, but really it has been about the worst possible start with ALL the wrong signs showing up.
The Indians TV just showed highlights from Beckett’s game in Fenway last year when he drilled two batters, Indian pitcher retaliated and benches cleared.
If the Sox got in a fight, their swings wouldn’t make contact and their punches thrown probably wouldn’t even reach their targets.
I hope they start the streak before they get back home, with 10 game against the Yanks, Rays, and Jays to start home schedule will put an awful amount of pressure on them
Lookie there, Albers gets out unscathed.
Maybe it is because there is about 2000 people there, but there is just no energy in the offense
I’m about ready to go all krueg on this team, warming up the Cap Locks and exclamation points! See there’s one now.
It’s not hyperbole to say that this is the most disappointing start to a season in my entire life.
Bright spot there, other than the walk, Jenks looks good
Lowery PH for Salty, Tek to see his first action of 2011, maybe he should have gotten the start
Brutal top of the 8th for the offense. Hacking at crap.
And Bard looked good as well
Brutal couple of games, honestly, for the offense.
This is getting interesting…
Frack!
Or-tease.
They better break open the bats soon, not a great performance by Beckett but a good showing by the pen. The hitter either look bad or are pressing…or both in some cases
First game I got to watch. Beckett’s “stuff” was very good; his breaking ball and changeup are fantastic. He’s just having trouble locating his pitches, especially the fastball. Call me an optimist, but I’m not too worried about Beckett just yet.
Hell of a showing by the bullpen, too. And the offense was starting to show some life in the 9th.
Really, Ath? I didn’t think Beckett’s stuff was very good at all. He got away with some non-moving fastballs because the ball wasn’t carrying. I realize it was cold, but he had zero location, and what he was able to locate wasn’t moving. The change-up was good on a couple of occasions, but he couldn’t set it up well enough. And his curve no longer looks so snappy.
It’s one start on a cold night, so no reason to read much into it at all, if anything. But I didn’t think that his stuff looked “very good”.
I really thought his curveball and changeup looked great, movement-wise. I’m surprised you saw otherwise.
Now his fastball… not so much.
There is always Brooks Baseball to tell us what our lying eyes actually saw! If I have time I will check it out.
Here’s the graph you’d want to look at: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/location.php-pitchSel=277417&game=gid_2011_04_05_bosmlb_clemlb_1&batterX=0&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=2.gif
Not sure what all this says, other than that he missed the zone a lot with pretty much every pitch, but some of that was likely intentional. He definitely got much better results with his changeup than with his fastball.