Beckett Decked

I don't know what is more embarrassing for the Dodgers' recently traded, 2003 World Series MVP Josh Beckett; actually, I listed some here that all occurred in the past year.

• 5-12 record with 5.23 ERA in your last year as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox :(
• Being booed by your fans after leaving the mound with an injury in your last home game as a member of the Boston Red Sox
• Traded out of the American League with another high priced free agent signing to the only club with new found money, and looking to spend it in the midst of a postseason run.
• Picked off at first base on a ground ball to *cough right field.
• Returning to the Dodgers bench after the event to find your teammates laughing at you.

In Josh Beckett's defence, the hit to right field rolled directly to 2012 All-Star, and three-time gold glove recipient Carlos Beltran. The thirty-five year old outfielder played shallow during Beckett's infamous at-bat, and his throw to first baseman Allen Craig was on the money.

Call it what you will, but for a man that some compared with Roger Clemens for his fiery approach and take care of business attitude to undergo an embarrassing series of events this season would be more than most people could take. When he broke into the league with the Florida Marlins in 2002, and manhandled the Yankees on the way to winning the Marlins' second World Series title in 2003, the way seemed clear for another pitching ace to take over the game.

Josh Beckett (LAD) winds up for the Dodgers, strikes back at his critics.

However, this was still "steroid era baseball", and the home runs and statistics are clear evidence of that. Nowadays, kids as young as high school need breaking pitches and curveballs to get ahead of the batters, but they also need delicate number of pitches and inning counts. Individually, they may prolong careers like those of Stephen Strasburg, whom the surprise playoff contender Washington Nationals shut down (again) earlier this week. Nevertheless, the new science behind pitching should improve the game, yes? Should we not see this generation's pitching phenoms winning 30-games in a season like Denny McLain? How about the Bob Gibsons, Sandy Koufaxes, and Don Drysdales pitching close to 150 pitches in a 2012 Major League Baseball game? Josh Beckett and other like him were next in line for that future, but it wasn't to be.

Beckett has alright stats for the Boston Red Sox since joining the club in 2006 with ten or more wins in five of his first six seasons with the baseball club, as well as another World Series championship ring he won in 2007. 2012 was not kind to him, however: If an inflated ERA of 5.23 in twenty-one starts doesn't move you, then a .266 OBA and 1.33 WHIP will o_O His highest totals in those categories since 2010. With playoff aspirations for Boston in the dust, and amidst terrible in-fighting and managerial controversies with the embattled Bosox lead man Bobby Valentine, the trade would help Josh Beckett's numbers, and they have...I guess. What he doesn't need is a "Welcome to the National League" message sent direct from right field, and then forwarded from his club house by his new teammates T_T

Beltran made a heads-up play, and didn't give up just because the ball made its way into the outfield; that's what you preach to kids on the practice field to "play to the whistle". However, for Josh Beckett, one would hope someone would blow the whistle on 2012.

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