Beckett Silences Critics -- For Now -- With Seven Shutout Innings
BOSTON (CBS) – Josh Beckett is exceptional at a handful of things in this world. On Tuesday afternoon, he reminded us that shutting people up is one of them.
On his 32nd birthday, the man who is supposed to be the best pitcher on the team sure played the part, shutting out the Mariners over seven innings, allowing just four hits and two walks. He struck out nine batters in his first five innings, a season high, and he made sure that this outing in now way resembled his outing last Thursday.
It was just five days ago when Beckett was showered with boos from irate fans at the Fens, after news surfaced of Beckett golfing while sideline with an injury. The furor only grew with Beckett's defiant postgame comments, when he explained he only has 18 off days per year and what he does on them is his business and his alone.
What he said was still wrong, and a lot damage cannot be undone, but Tuesday's outing should at least work to quiet some of the outrage surrounding Beckett.
"I don't think I was trying to make a statement," Beckett said when asked if he tried to prove anything on Tuesday.
Despite all the controversy surrounding Beckett, manager Bobby Valentine made it sound like Beckett's outing was rather simple.
"He just look like he took control of the game," Valentine said. "He stood out there and wanted everyone to know he was Josh Beckett, including the opposition. He threw strikes, had all of his pitches, worked quickly with his catcher and mowed 'em down.
The outing was impressive in a number of ways. It took until the sixth for Beckett to not record at least one strikeout in an inning, and his total of nine was his highest since July 3 of last season. And considering he couldn't make it out of the third inning in his last time out, and that he had allowed zero runs exactly zero times heading into Tuesday, it was a successful afternoon for Beckett – even outside of the off-the-field concerns that made him the top story heading into the game.
After the shaky showing last week, and the overall slow start to the season, Valentine said Tuesday's outing proved that Beckett is still Beckett.
"He belongs on that hill," Valentine said. "That's his saddle."
It was a step in the right direction, for sure, but Beckett still has a long way to go. Even with the stellar outing, Beckett's ERA is still 4.97 and he's still 3-4. He'll need to string together four or five of these starts – and not against the Mariners, who have the second-worst team batting average in the American League – in order to successfully and officially turn his season around.
Though he'll never admit it himself, don't believe for one second that Beckett's performance had nothing to do with the circus that's surrounded him for the past week. But while Beckett will never tell you, leave it to David Ortiz, a fellow teammate who's been doubted many times before and has relished proving people wrong, to offer a glimpse into the motivation of his pitcher. And leave it to Valentine for passing that conversation along.
"David Ortiz whispered in my ear and said, 'Watch him pitch today' in the second inning," Valentine said after the game. "[Ortiz] saw it in the first inning. There was something there."
For now, we still don't know too much more than we knew yesterday. Perhaps Beckett is still destined for a 9-13 season with a 5.45 ERA, or perhaps he'll be traded away in July, or maybe he'll just revert to his former self – a reliable, occasionally dominant starter – for the Red Sox.
We do know that Beckett took a step in the right direction on Tuesday, and we know that all of that ire and all of that loud talk radio noise will have to be a little bit quieter. For now.
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