Savior Beckett Paves The Way

When Josh Beckett took the mound on Friday night to try and halt the surging Tampa Bay Rays, he knew he had the weight of not only his ballclub on his back, but the weight of a nation as well; Red Sox Nation.

The Red Sox had lost a considerable lead in the Wild Card over Tampa and it appeared that no Red Sox pitcher was even close to good enough to snuff out this flame that the Rays have been burning.

But he’s Josh “big game” Beckett and he did what we were all hoping he would do.  He led the club to a huge victory and in doing so, padding the club’s lead in the Wild Card race to four games.

Beckett went 6 innings, scattering seven hits and three runs, two that were earned.  He fanned seven while only walking one and threw just over 100 pitches on the night on the way to picking up his 13th win of the year.

The 31-0ne year old was coming off extended rest after he sprained his ankle in a game nearly two weeks ago in Toronto.  There was some concern over what type of Beckett we’d see on the mound as the last time he missed any signifcant amount of time was back in June.  Beckett’s first start after the layoff was against the Philadelphia Phillies and he was anything but effective, going six innings allowing five runs on five hits.

Josh is a creature of habit and anytime his five day rotation schedule is messed with, it not only throws his mind for a loop, but his pitching ability usually follows suit.

But not on this night.  Beckett served a high fly ball, that just about brought rain when it came down, to Evan Longoria in the first inning.  Because the game was at Fenway Park it had enough to make it over the monster for a home run and spot the Rays an early 2-0 lead. 

In the home half of the first, the Red Sox responded and it was once again the dynamic leadoff duo of Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia getting it done.  Ells lashed a double down the left field line and Pedey brought him home with a shot down the third base line that stayed fair.  David Ortiz then smashed a double to bring home Pedroia and suddenly the game was tied against James Shields.

Beckett would give up one more run in the third, but his club would once again tie it in the bottom of the inning.  A Mike Aviles home run in the fourth inning off of Shields would be the last scoring play of the night.

Beckett would cruise through the sixth handing the ball over to the combination of Aceves, Bard and Papelbon, as we’ve seen so many times this year.

After Alfredo Aceves got out of a two out, two on jam in the seventh, Daniel Bard was once again summoned to enter with the lead.  It was on the top of everyone’s mind, whether or not Bard would have another meltdown and blow this game as he’s done in  his previous three.  But Bard was solid, striking out the side while walking one batter.  A sigh of relief went through Fenway as Bard proved he can still be the dominating, hard throwing set up man.

Jonathan Papelbon came on, struck out the first two batters, gave up a single to B.J. Upton then once again struck out Evan Longoria to end the game and snap Boston’s skid to the Rays.  A 4-3 thrilling win for the home team.

They won’t have long to celebrate though as the clubs square off again on Saturday afternoon at 4:10 EST.  Jon Lester (15-7, 3.07 ERA) squares off against Jeff Niemann (10-7, 3.97 ERA). 

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