Josh Beckett got the start today against Northeastern. Not exactly a fair match up (Beckett struck out 5 in 2 innings) but it’s good to see that Beckett was throwing strikes. Beckett reportedly was working on his curveball, an issue last year. He threw 21 pitches, 18 of them for strikes. It was good to see Red Sox pitchers refrain from allowing a single walk yesterday and it’s just as good to see that our two rotation members have thrown 82.5% of their pitches for strikes to this point. Beckett was the only player with a guaranteed roster spot who pitched today. Wily Mo Pena is also off to a good start with 3 hits and 0 strikeouts in his first 5 at bats.
Tomorrow the Red Sox have two more games. At 12:30 Manny Ramirez will make his Spring Training debut against the Blue Jays and at 6:05 Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his debut against Boston College. Both Donnelly and Okajima are scheduled to pitch tomorrow against the Blue Jays. Kyle Jackson and Nick Debarr will pitch against Boston College.
On an unfortunate note, Red Sox Spring Training invitee Adam Bernero will miss all of next season as he was forced to have Tommy John surgery yesterday. He’s never panned out in the majors and would not have been able to earn a spot on the team. Even so, he did seem to turn a corner in 2006. He put up ERA’s of 2.84, 1.80 and 1.38 between AAA Omaha, AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and the Kansas City Royals. He could have been an interesting insurance option.
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