The Red Sox Season Has (Officially) Begun
(BOSTON) CBS - Thanks to Josh Beckett, the 2011 Boston Red Sox officially opened up their season on Sunday night.
Beckett was dominant in a 4-0 win over the Yankees. The big right-hander tossed eight brilliant shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out 10. He threw all of his pitches for strikes... his two-seam and four-seam fastballs as well as his change-up, cutter, and curve. In fact, he notched five of his 10 K's on his curveball.
For Beckett to be able to put together that type of outing is huge. Huge! I think many folks thought we would never see the guy we saw Sunday night ever again; the power pitcher. If that's what lies ahead for 2011 then watch out. He was supremely confident. What makes this outing even better is that Jason Varitek has been telling reporters all spring that Beckett's power game was coming back. If healthy, Sox fans have their leader back... not only off the field, but on the field as well.
So with that said, welcome to 2011 Red Sox fans.
It has been a strange start to the much-hyped year. We all shook our heads as we watched this team come out of Spring Training 0-6. But, if you take two of three from New York it is a giant step in the right direction.
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Marco Scutaro was one of the heroes Sunday as he delivered a two-run double in the seventh that broke open a tight game.
Meanwhile, Adrian Gonzalez survived a scare Sunday night when he was hit on the hand by a CC Sabathia fastball. Gonzalez told me after the game that he was fine and didn't need X-rays.
And now that the circus known as Boston-New York has left town, it's time to settle in and enjoy some baseball. Time to dig out of that hole. As Dustin Pedroia said Sunday after the game the Sox aren't in too bad shape out four games in the AL East with 153 to go. I think all the panic should be cleared out and the season is finally here.
It's about time.
