Beckett fires and then it gets heated
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Josh Beckett found himself in a difficult situation early into his workday yesterday afternoon.
The first inning wasn't complete, and a speedy baserunner, Chone Figgins, stood on second. Beckett wanted to throw off Figgins's timing, and with Bobby Abreu in the batter's box, Beckett decided the best way to do that would be to hold the ball.
He stood like a statue on the rubber. He looked at second base once, twice, three times. After the third time, he kicked his leg. Abreu called time. Plate umpire Paul Schrieber granted it. Beckett chucked the ball when time was called and his delivery had started. He believes trying to stop short can injure a pitcher, maybe even end a career, so he fired the pitch.
"It could have gone anywhere," he said.
But it went directly at Abreu's head, which sparked the clearing of benches. Players streamed in from the dugouts. Pitchers sprinted in from the bullpen.
The field cleared, then was flooded again. The teams circled each other, the only damage inflicted upon vocal cords. By the time the posturing concluded, umpires had ejected four Angels - including manager Mike Scioscia and center fielder Torii Hunter - and no Red Sox.
"That's baseball," Boston right fielder J.D. Drew said.
"And it's Easter, so everyone wanted to get together and have fun, I guess."
All the fun stemmed from that one pitch, which missed Abreu's face by inches. Abreu held up his hands and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, "What was that for?" Beckett stared in his direction and eventually barked back. Beckett and Abreu walked toward one another. Their teammates engulfed them.
Bias colored every perspective. Beckett, the only person who knew the true motivation of his wayward pitch, said:
"That's what I always do. I'm not going to stop when I'm that far in. I've never hit anybody in the head, and it's not on my list of [stuff] to get done. People can think what they want to think."
During the skirmish, Beckett said, he looked at Abreu and said, 'Hey. Come on.'
"I know Bobby Abreu," Beckett said. "He knows I'm not trying to hit him in the head."
Scioscia and Beckett were nose to nose at one point, and after the game Scioscia questioned Beckett's actions.
"That was about as flagrant as anything I have seen in this game and it's unfortunate," Scioscia said. "Usually the pitcher will show a little bit of remorse. We didn't see any of that from Beckett.
"There were some things that happened on the field that were disturbing and I feel the league has to look into it."
Angels reliever Justin Speier was the most aggressive player while both teams occupied the infield. Teammates restrained him after he charged in from the bullpen in left field, and he was ejected.
"What Beckett did was totally uncalled for," Speier said.
"To throw a 94-mile per hour fastball at his head is totally disrespectful to us and disrespectful to the game. Then he has the gall to chase Abreu and then start talking smack to Abreu and our manager."
By the end of the dustup, some of the Angels' anger had turned from the Red Sox to the umpires.
"There were just some words said that were just outrageous," Hunter said. "And it wasn't from the Red Sox."
Hunter was ejected after yelling at umpires, but crew chief Joe West said he was ejected because he threatened to fight Beckett.
Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was also ejected in the wake of the benches clearing.
"The Angels were the aggressors," West said. "That's why they were ejected. They were the aggressors and Beckett was warned.
"We even charged the Red Sox with a trip to the mound, because the manager and the pitching coach were standing there when we separated everybody.
"They weren't happy about that either, so we had everybody mad at us." 