Red Sox, Beckett play it safe
When Josh Beckett was traded to the Red Sox from the Florida Marlins, he expected to be making meaningful starts in September and hopefully into October. Instead, making his first start of September, Beckett became the human white flag in the team's battle to make the playoffs, which took another blow with a 6-1 loss to Toronto yesterday at Fenway Park.
While his former team is in the thick of the National League wild-card hunt, Beckett's current team is realistically looking forward to 2007. That, not his performance, is why Beckett was pulled after just 77 pitches and five innings yesterday. The Sox trailed, 3-0, at the time and the game was still within reach, but with a 1-hour 8-minute rain delay forcing Beckett to warm up twice and throw more than 70 pitches in the bullpen before the game even started, manager Terry Francona didn't want to risk another player going on the disabled list.
``With what we've been through I didn't think it made a lot of sense," said Francona. ``You send him out there he could have a long inning. It just made sense to me to pull the cord there. That was enough.
``Certainly you never want to jeopardize anybody's health. If it's the seventh game of the World Series that's different. This is trying to maintain somebody's health for the long haul."
Beckett said Francona didn't even give him a chance to fight the decision.
``He said he didn't really feel comfortable with the amount of pitches I threw because I basically worked through my whole warm-up routine and then they told me the game was delayed," said Beckett. ``Then I came back in, got re-loose and then went back and re-did it. That's not my call. It's not my call to second-guess him. That's his call. Those are the decisions that he gets paid for."
It didn't help that it took Beckett 44 pitches to get out of the first two innings. Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the second on back-to-back doubles by Bengie Molina (4 for 5 with an RBI) and Gregg Zaun and loaded the bases against Beckett, before he fanned Reed Johnson to end the threat. Toronto tacked on another run in the third on a wall-ball double by Molina.
Then Blue Jays call-up Kevin Barker, who hadn't played in the majors since 2002, when he appeared in seven games for the San Diego Padres, turned around Beckett's first offering of the fourth, shooting an opposite-field homer into the Monster seats. It was Barker's first big league home run since April 25, 2000, when he was with the Milwaukee Brewers.
With Gustavo Chacin mowing down a depleted Sox lineup that has now scored 30 runs in its last 14 games, a three-run deficit suddenly seemed insurmountable, which figured into Beckett's early departure.
``They score three runs and it gets tough," said Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli. ``It's tough on the team with the lineup we've been running out there and that probably affects a pitcher's mentality out there, too."
While a rash of injuries has left the Sox shorthanded, Beckett, who came to Boston with a history of injury problems, has enjoyed his healthiest season. For the first time in his career Beckett has not landed on the DL. Yesterday, he made his 29th start of the season, tops on the team. That number matches his career high, which he set last year with Florida, despite making two trips to the disabled list for the Marlins.
The blister problems that plagued him in South Florida haven't appeared. Francona credited Beckett's diligence, along with the vigilance of the Sox's medical staff, for his robust health.
``He's a hard-working kid," said Francona. ``He takes his side days, his work, very seriously. I understand his ERA [5.11] is not where everybody would love to see it, but this kid has worked his [butt] off to make his starts. He wants to be good. We believe in him."
That's why it is even more frustrating for Beckett to watch Boston's postseason aspirations dwindle because of injuries and his hopes of taking the ball for Boston in October fade.
``I think that was probably the thing that I was most excited about when I got traded over here, going to a team that is going to have the players and is going to go get the players and is going to have a chance to win every year," said Beckett.
``This year there's no way we could have gone out and gotten the players we needed because every time we'd get somebody back or somebody looked like they were coming back they'd have a setback or we'd lose somebody else. It was almost like we were just treading water. It's frustrating, it really is."
