So, Josh Beckett pitched yesterday. Alright, so it seemed like he got rocked a little bit. He gave up 2 solo HRs, he also went out in the 5th and proceeded to load the bases without scoring an out. And…at the end of the day, I felt that the outing was not Josh’s best start, but that it said some good things about him for the year to come. Huh? Wha?? Have I officially lost my mind?
Well….since it is spring training, I threw that 5th inning right out. It didn’t count. Erased. Over. Beckett seemed pretty tired and I didn’t see it as something to get overly worried about. And, yes…in the first 4 innings he gave up 2 HRs. However, he also pitched well and used all of his pitches. And it wasn’t just luck that the two HRs were solos…since he was pretty efficient at not letting base runners on. Moreover, I agreed with NESN that his changeup looked pretty good. I like Josh’s fast ball…I like it a lot, however…I like Josh’s fastball even more when he has a great changeup.
So those were my thoughts following Josh’s outing….where he went 4+ innings and allowed 5 ER. If it was a game that counted in the wins and losses column, I’d think it was a pretty horrible showing…however since it was a Spring Training game, it gave me a lot ot be hopeful for looking ahead to 2011. Or course, I also wondered if my Beckett fandom was making me wanna see the good…and not worry so much about the bad.
And then I read Rob Bradford’s article this morning about Josh’s outing and some of the good things that can get taken out of it. The article stated that Josh threw a lot of changeups and how that was purposeful. The article went on to say that “the changeup serves as sort of a litmus test to how the feel for all of his pitches stand at. If the changeup feels good, so does the curve, two-seamer, and four-seamer … and so does the pitcher.”
And here is a comment from Beckett after his pitching performance yesterday:
“It’s a big pitch for me,” he noted. “I look back at any successful stints I’ve had in the big leagues, whether it’s been with the Marlins or Red Sox, I’ve always had a good changeup. I’ve always felt like that’s a really good pitch for me, front to back.”
Sure, I’d love for Josh to have gone out and had 5 scoreless innings…and just been crazy dominant good. However, I also felt that what he did show us…left me feeling a lot better about Josh Beckett than I did last year.
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