The Sox could not get their ace on the mound soon enough on this road trip, and Josh Beckett did exactly what a stopper should do. After missing a good portion of spring training, Beckett is now, for the first time, at full strength. His fastball was consistently overpowering the Yankee hitters for most of the night. He had on rough inning in the fifth, where he gave up all of the runs that the Yankees would score off of him. Beckett threw a lot of fastballs, only mixing in occasional curve-balls, and fewer change-ups, and got most of the Yankees out on the fastball. But it was not Beckett’s effective start that the Sox will ultimately benefit most out of. He went eight innings, and gave the bullpen a much needed day of rest after being worked extensively for the past few days. Beckett did today what he did all of last season which is show that he is one of the top five pitchers in the game and can effects the fortunes of an entire team, and by giving the bullpen the night off, he helps the team for tomorrow’s game, as everyone will be available.
Strange though it may seem to other teams based on the way that they pitch to him, but Manny Ramirez is an excellent hitter who is absolutely locked in at the early point in the year. Mike Mussina, no where near the pitcher he once was with the Orioles, gave him two 87 MPH fastballs on the inner half of the plate, and Ramirez crushed them into what must have totaled nearly 1,000 feet of home runs. Ramirez hit a home run and a two run double off of Mussina during the series this past weekend, and he is now leading the majors in home runs and RBIs. Ramirez, who is surprising loquacious and cheerful with two options for $40 million looming at the end of this year, has not had a hot start to the season in recent years. Ramirez typically heats up with the weather, and really starts to hit his stride by the end of May and on into June. He had a quote the other day when asked about David Ortiz’s struggles, and he said that it was early in the season, and Ortiz would come around, but until then, Ramirez would do all of the hitting for him. Ramirez was my preseason pick to win the A.L. MVP.
The excuse first circulated last year when the Sox acquired Eric Gagne, a life-time closer, who was highly ineffective as a set-up man. Some were saying that as a closer, so much of the success comes as a result of the adrenaline and how pumped up a pitcher gets when he has to come in and save the game. Tonight, Jonathan Papelbon entered the game with a four run lead, so a non-save situation, and gave up the first run that he has ever given up in his career in April, and then promptly gives up a solo home run to Melky Cabrera. While it seems unlikely that closers cannot pitch effectively with the lead unless they enter in a save situation, even the best do not seem to have the same intensity when they come in in a non-save situation. But, when the lead was cut to two, Papelbon looked as if he took his intensity to the next level and struck out Hideki Matsui for the final. Also, Papelbon struck out two in the ninth, which now gives him a staggering 16 strikeouts on the season in eight innings. His 16 K’s ranks sixth in the A.L.
Kyle Farnsworth took out the Yankees frustration against Ramirez when he came up in third at-bat by throwing a pitch behind the head of Ramirez. Intentionally throwing at a batter is obviously an extremely gray area, but there are few things more grizzly than seeing an already errant thrower leave a pitch anywhere near a team’s best hitter. Ramirez was inches from taking a 95 MPH heater off of the back of his head. Both benched were warned, but, and this has nothing to do with Red Sox and Yankees, if a pitcher makes that blatant of an attempt, with the first pitch he threw in the game, to hit a batter, Farnsworth has to be ejected. That way, the issue of retaliation is eliminated for the Sox, because Farnsworth, and possible Joe Girardi, are ejected and Beckett does not have to worry about facing a suspension if he decides to hit a member of the Yankees.
Look for this recap after tomorrow’s game as the Sox return home to face the Texas Rangers in a four game, wrap-around weekend series. (To view all previous recaps, follow this link.)
Keep the Faith.