@#*&%
So much for not having Papelbon pitch a second inning last night, so he could be fresh tonight.
Jerry Trupiano in the third inning: "Throwing two straight curveballs to Frank Thomas is like going into a lion cage ... with a stick, and trying to annoy the lion." ... And again, in the middle of the fourth: "The A's broke three bats that inning, but they scored two times." They broke some bats -- who cares?
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Mid-5th: Josh Beckett continues to think he can blow AL hitters away solely with his fastball. He gets pounded and then goes out five days later and refuses to change his approach (media reports have said he scorns the type of prep work Curt Schilling does). So the light-hitting A's lineup battered him tonight (4.2-8-7-4-3, 94), raising his ERA to 5.12. ... Barry Zito is not having much trouble, and he leads 7-0 after five.
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Barry Zito (3.29) / Josh Beckett (4.75), 7 PM
Beckett has a 2.54 ERA in seven Fenway starts this year. The A's are dead last in MLB in both batting average (.244) and slugging percentage (.389 (the only team under .400)). However, they are in the middle of the pack in home runs -- and 9th in the AL -- so Beckett should still be careful.
In his last outing, Zito held the Angels to three runs over eight innings, but John Lackey tossed a one-hitter. ... In his six losses this year, the A's have scored a total of three runs. ... David Ortiz is batting .421 (8-for-19) against Zito.
In their last two games, the Red Sox have played 30 innings in 10:42.
3 comments:
It's just not meant to be tonight. We've hit the ball hard tonight, but right at guys.
Manny had a 2 R HR robbed.
Loretta hit one 5 ft. foul. (would've been a 2R HR)
//Josh Beckett continues to think he can blow AL hitters away solely with his fastball. He gets pounded and then goes out five days later and refuses to change his approach (media reports have said he scorns the type of prep work Curt Schilling does).//
this tendency of beckett's drives me totally nucking futz. TRY A DAMN OFF SPEED PITCH* SOMETIMES HOW BOUT IT. yeaaarrggghhh.
*note: "off-speed pitch" denotes ball thrown BELOW 90 mph.
Josh Beckett is alternately an incredibly gifted young man, and… it seems, incredibly stubborn. It has routinely been noted that he tries too hard to blow people away with his stuff and not enough time fooling people with his stuff. If someone (anyone…PLEASE!)can get it in Beckett’s noggin that he will be FAR MORE effective (not to mention make batters look silly) if he picks his spots carefully as to when and where he throws in the upper 90’s, instead of flinging heater after heater up there, then and only then , will Beckett become an Ace. Oddly enough, near the start of the season, after Beckett’s fifth or sixth start, the Boston Globe asked the question: How many wins will Josh Beckett have for the Red Sox this season?
I believe Josh was 3 and 0 with two no descisions to that point, but the overwhelming majority answer to that question was 20+ wins… I answered 17+ wins, a goal I hope Beckett reaches… Not that I’m tooting my own horn here, just that even then I saw enough inconsistency in Josh to be more than a little wary of bestowing the mantle of 20+ game winner. Josh Beckett can be an Ace that anchors the Red Sox staff for a long time to come, but he needs to lose the untouchable World Series hero mentallity he currently trots to the mound with and PITCH the ball to hitters, Instead of trying to blaze the ball past practically everyone.
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