Game 49: Varitek, Beckett are money

by Randy Booth on May 29, 2009 1:44 AM EDT in Game Stories

FINAL SCORE: Red Sox 3, Twins 1
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Josh Beckett (7IP, 3H, 1ER, 4BB, 8K)

The AL East should be just a tad bit worried because it looks like we've got our old Josh Beckett back.

Beckett worked seven innings, allowed three hits, one run, four walks and struck out eight in the Sox's 3-1 victory over the Twins on Thursday. The walks are a little higher than we want, but everything else is right there.

Beckett lowered his ERA to 4.60. That's much better than the 6+ ERA he was sporting just a couple of weeks ago. While the Twins don't have the best offense in the league, it's still a great outing from our No. 1. Now we just need Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka to start turning things around.

Offensively, Jason Varitek is The Dude. Not only did he hit one home run, he hit TWO home runs. Say what? Yes, Varitek hit two home runs. He is the reason the Sox won, at least offensively. The second home run was an absolute bomb, too. It was measured at 454 feet.

Later in the game, Varitek and Terry Francona were ejected for arguing balls and strikes. I didn't personally see it though, so I can't say much about it, but Ron Gardenhire and Mike Redmond were ejected as well. Gotta' love the good ol' fashion ejections.

Other notes: Dustin Pedroia hit a sac fly to score Jeff Bailey for the other Red Sox run ... Jacoby Ellsbury's hit streak ended as he went 0 for 3 ... Hideki Okajima (1H, 1K) worked the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon (1H, 1K) earned his 13th save ... the Sox and Tim Wakefield head to Toronto for a three game series starting Friday.

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The reason 'Tek got ejected:

It was a borderline strike/ball and was called a ball, which Beckett did not like. (NESN’s K-Zone-thing agreed it was a ball, but whatever.) Beckett started yelling a bit and getting pissed at the ump so Tek turned around and go in the ump’s face. Basically, he did it to protect Beckett, who was rolling at that point. Tek got tossed pretty quickly (as he should have; a catcher cannot turn around and argue balls and strikes in the guy’s face like that) and Francona was already out to protect Tek so he got the boot too.

It seemed like it was the kind of thing that players on this team love about Tek. After hitting 2 HR’s the guy got himself tossed to protect his starting pitcher. In conclusion, Jason Varitek is fucking awesome.

Also, Beckett still walked 4 guys in 7 innings. He has to get his control back or we’re in trouble.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on May 29, 2009 2:33 AM EDT reply actions

Tek.

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by bdalebs on Jun 1, 2009 8:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we off to Toronto?

Not the other way around?

And I wouldn’t worry about Beckett’s walks. The 2 that came after the HR were more a matter of being freaked out—which is admittedly not a good thing, but he was just pitching around the zone, he wasn’t by any means wild.

The other 2 were to Morneau with nobody on and 2 out, giving him a constant stream of pitches away—basically taking the bat out of his hands, and to Cuddyer starting out over 100 pitches deep.

Basically, they’re pretty circumstantial. Beckett’s problems earlier in the year came when he couldn’t come close to the strike zone in the stretch.

by Ben Buchanan on May 29, 2009 2:38 AM EDT reply actions

Correct: travel to Toronto

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on May 29, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions

The Ump

was a call up from AAA. Seemed a bit overmatched. I think what pissed Beckett off was that was the second pitch that very at bat where he felt he got squeezed-eg he felt the count should have been 0-4. After Crede’s HR it also looked like he got squeezed a bit on 2 pitches to Young. But otherwise I didn’t think the zone was so bad. I will say that by unscientific eye the balls and strikes calls this year have been really inconsistent all year for all teams.

by Buzzy on May 29, 2009 7:46 AM EDT reply actions

The home runs were great

But taking the fall for Beckett is exactly what we need our captain to do, just like sticking ARod in the face when he was mouthing off to Arroyo. Go Tek

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on May 29, 2009 10:20 AM EDT reply actions