Birthday Wishes
Josh Beckett showed his age tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. He was excellent on the mound. After having an extra day’s rest, his fast ball was easily topping out at 97-98mph. He gave up a home run to Tejada in the first inning, and it was pretty much lights out after that.
These are the types of performances the Sox need more often from Beckett. I know it takes more effort than just having it be your birthday, but all-in-all, this guy is potentially the future ace of this franchise (assuming all continues to go well). Schilling will be on the mound next to face Baltimore, but it seems that when Beckett is on, his stuff is devestating.
I’m not exactly sure what pitches were thrown more often than others, but by many accounts, Beckett was living on his fastball and its locations. Of course, when you throw a 97 mph fastball and your change-up is still at 90 mph, you probably have to really hit those locations to be effective. And effective is what Beckett was all night, minus one pitch.