Bounce Back Beckett by Jared Carrabis
Beckett tosses complete game shutout after worst outing of '09


Coming off his worst start of 2009 (6 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 HR), how did Josh Beckett respond? How's a complete game, five-hit shutout sound?

In Beckett's most recent start against the Phillies in Philadelphia, the right-hander saw his streak of seven quality starts come to an end. Beckett was handed a loss after allowing seven runs, six earned, on a grand total of eleven hits. Entering that start, 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.

After getting knocked around against the defending World Champs, some fans were wondering if Beckett's 4-0 run in five games was just a hot streak, or if his rough outing against the Phillies was just a minor blip on an otherwise dominant radar. Well, Beckett answered those questions with flying colors by responding to his worst outing of 2009 with his best outing of 2009.

Opposing Beckett on Saturday night was former Red Sox postseason hero, Derek Lowe. The former 21-game winner with the Sox matched the Boston ace of the present inning for inning into the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Nick Green broke a scoreless tie after following up Jason Varitek's double with a double of is own. The two traded places, as Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead.

In the very next inning, JD Drew one-handed a Derek Lowe offering off the big green wall for a lead-off double. The very next batter in Kevin Youkilis drove an 0-2 slider to the opposite field to plate Drew from second base. The RBI for Youkilis was his 40th on the season.

In the bottom of the seventh with one out, Jason Varitek lifted a double that crashed off the top of the scoreboard against his former teammate of two different organizations. Nick Green followed up Varitek's double with a base hit back up the middle to put runners at the corners with one out. The single for Green spelled the end of the night for D-Lowe. As the great Bobby Cox emerged from the dugout to lift his starting pitcher from the game, Lowe walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the Fenway Faithful who had been waiting five years to show their appreciation to Derek Lowe.

With D-Lowe gone, Beckett continued to cruise through the Atlanta Braves' batting order. When it was all said and done, Beckett had hurled his third career complete game shutout and his first in a Red Sox uniform. As if tossing a complete game isn't impressive enough, as if a complete game shutout isn't impressive enough, Beckett impressed everyone down to the very last stat. Whether it be his seven strikeouts, the fact that zero batters were granted a free pass to first base or that Beckett needed just 94 pitches to complete his masterpiece. Hypothetically, if the game were to continue into the tenth inning, it would not have been a surprise if Beckett at least came out for the tenth inning; now that's impressive.

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

The last time Derek Lowe took the mound at Fenway Park was the historic night of October 17, 2004; Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. In that game, Lowe tossed 5.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits, including a home run. Lowe tossed 88 pitches, walking none and striking out three. The sinker-baller would later appear as the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS in New York before making his last appearance in a Red Sox uniform in Game 4 of the 2004 World Series. In that game, Lowe tossed seven shutout innings of three-hit baseball against the St. Louis Cardinals in the Red Sox' World Series clinching game.

In Beckett's last six starts, including his rough outing against the Phillies, the right-hander has logged 43.2 innings, touting a 1.25 ERA, while striking out 42 batters. If you remove his start against the Phillies, Beckett has a 0.24 ERA dating back to May 24.

To find the last time Josh Beckett hurled a complete game shutout, you have to go all the way back to April 10 of 2005. In an 8-0 rout of the Washington Nationals, Beckett tossed a nine inning, five-hit shutout with 11 K's to improve to 2-0 in two starts with the Florida Marlins.

In seven starts at home this season, Josh Beckett is 4-0 with a 2.87 ERA.

I guess Josh Beckett was feeling kind of prude on Saturday night because nobody from the Atlanta Braves made it past second base.

On Saturday night, Jason Varitek was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles. In 2008, the captain had 33 extra-base hits in 423 at bats. Through 50 games in 2009, Varitek already has 25 extra-base hits through 180 at bats.

Daisuke Matsuzaka update:

On Saturday, the Red Sox decided to yank Daisuke Matsuzaka out of the rotation, for the time being. Boston.com is reporting that "Daisuke Matsuzaka will miss at least his next start in the rotation, and medical tests including a possible MRI will be performed on the struggling righthander's shoulder, Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said Saturday afternoon."

"We need to get him looked at physically," said Francona. "He's gonna get looked at by (Red Sox physician) Tom Gill. He's going to get tests done. There's a potential for MRIs. All of that information will be coming very soon."

Sunday's pitching match up:

Tim Wakefield gets the ball on Sunday and is just one win shy of the league lead (10). The 42-year-old is having a great season for Boston, but when I spoke with Red Sox assistant GM, Jed Hoyer, last week, he thought that even if Wakefield wins his last three starts before the All Star break, he'd still have a rough shot at cracking the AL squad because of his plus-four ERA. Let's not forget that Wakefield once entered the All Star break with a 14-1 record and still didn't make the team.

Regardless of if Wakefield is All Star worthy or not in the eyes of the powers that be, he's 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA in the month of June. Standing in the way of Tim Wakefield and his league leading tenth victory will be right-hander, Jair Jurrjens. Jurrjens has lost each of his last three starts logging a 4.20 ERA in that span.

-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Braves 0, Red Sox 3

Published on June 20, 2009

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