Sweep Denied by Jared Carrabis
Beckett gets knocked around, can't sweep Phils


All it takes is one big inning, and that's all it took to sink the Sox in the series finale between the Sox and Phillies.

Having taken the first of three from the Philles on the road, Josh Beckett took the hill looking to complete the sweep against the defending World Champs. In Beckett's last five starts entering Sunday's contest, the right-hander had gone 35.2 innings with a 0.77 ERA and 35 strikeouts. Beckett was 4-0 over that span, and would have been 5-0 had it not been for a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon against the Mets.

Despite has eye-popping numbers as of late, the Phillies were not nearly as impressed as Red Sox Nation. The fightin' Phils attacked Boston's ace for a four-run fifth inning, which was nothing compared to the six-run attack that they unleashed on the Sox bullpen.

In relief of Beckett in the seventh, Daniel Bard gave up two hits and walked three, allowing three earned runs to cross the plate. Takashi Saito came in to stop the bleeding, but only continued the Phillies' big inning.

Boston's offense was highlighted by back-to-back home runs off the bats of Rocco Baldelli and Nick Green. Trailing by a 6-5 score, even Josh Beckett chipped in with a solo shot of his own in impressive fashion. Six runs isn't exactly an off-day in terms of run production, but on Sunday, it wasn't enough to secure the sweep. Beckett held himself accountable at the end of the game.

"It's a shame," said Beckett. "Your team scores you six runs and you can't hold them to less then that. Pretty horrible."

Being the competitor that Beckett is, he could have cared less that he cranked a home run to tie the game for his team. If the home run had helped win the game, then he would have been thrilled to have spoke about his solo shot. However, the ball that he sent screaming into the left field stands was the last thing on his mind.

"Why would I want to talk about that? All it did was help us lose the game," Beckett said. "I'd like to talk about the other things I did to help us lose the game."

With the Yankees crushing the Mets 15-0, Boston's lead in the AL East now sits at two games. Beckett departed after tossing six innings and being touched up for 7 runs (6 earned) on 11 hits, one of the hits being a solo home run off the bat of Jimmy Rollins. With the loss, Beckett's record dipped to 7-3 on the season.

I didn't get a chance to blog about Lester's performance after the first game of this series, but it's worth noting that he is now pitching just as good as Beckett, if not better (minus Beckett's most recent outing). In his last three starts, Lester has logged 22 innings, including a complete game and has racked up double digit strikeouts in each of those last three starts (11, 12, 11). His 69 K's in his last three starts look great next to the 1.23 ERA that he has compiled in that span.

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

Josh Beckett has homered three times in his Major League career. Seeing as he came from the National League before coming to Boston, most would expect that the bulk (if you can even call it that) of his long balls came while he was with the Florida Marlins. Only one of his home runs came while he was hurling in the NL, and his two most recent have come while he was a member of the Boston Red Sox. Beckett homered on Sunday and on May 20, 2006. Coincidentally, both of his two most recent homers have been hit against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox have been receiving offers for their right-handed starter, Brad Penny. Penny signed on with the Red Sox this past winter as a free agent, making it impossible to deal the right-hander without his consent until the June 15 deadline. With the deadline being on Monday, things could get interesting as the Sox are now free to do as they please with Boston's fifth starter.

In my opinion, they're going to want to hang onto this guy. He's only getting stronger as the season goes on and he's coming off his best outing in a Sox uniform in which he shutout the Yankees through six innings, while hitting as high as 98 on the gun. If the Red Sox were to deal Penny, although it would free up space in the rotation, they likely would not receive in return a player that would be able to contribute to this team right away like Penny can for them now. Boston won't need to shop around for a shortstop, as they've gotten above and beyond what they had expected to get from Nick Green, Julio Lugo's bat is alive and well and the return of Jed Lowrie is right around the corner.

It will be interesting to see within the next couple of weeks what the Red Sox decide to do with their abundance of starting pitching, as John Smoltz aims to return very, very soon and Clay Buchholz knocks on the door are quickly becoming loud pounds on the door. If Penny is staying put, the Red Sox should consider putting Daisuke Matsuzaka on the 15-day disabled list, as he has publicly stated that he is not at 100% and he literally has not had one solid start in all of 2009.

On Monday, the Sox will have an off-day before welcoming Hanley Ramirez and the Florida Marlins to Fenway Park for a three-game series. If you have tickets to Tuesday's game, get there early! I'll be on the field before the game for Red Sox Nation day!

In case you missed it:

I appeared on The Baseball Show with Michael Felger on Comcast SportsNet this past Saturday morning. Check it out!



-Jared Carrabis

Published on June 15, 2009

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