Pitching Wins Ballgames

The addage is simple, direct, and to the point; Pitching Wins Ballgames. And right now Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have studied that addage and are sh*tting out Gold. With the last few starts serving as a catalyst hopefully this will catapult their pitching to new levels.

OK, I realize they aren't going to go out there and flirt with no-no's all the time (that would be awesome), but after last nights performance against the AL All Stars, I mean the New York Yankees, Josh Beckett is exuding more confidence now than in the 2007 Playoff run when he plowed through the Angels and Indians as if they were minor leaguers.

What Beckett is doing is establishing himself as a true Ace. Thus far in his Red Sox career he has been should we say...Mediocre? (48-28 4.10 ERA) The win/loss record isn't indicative of how actually ordinary he has pitched, being that he has been on a team that has given him a LOT of run support during his tenure with the sox. During the entire month of May and now into June Beckett has almost been unhittable and one of the most DOMINATING pitcher's in the game.

I say one of the most dominating because of a southpaw from Washington named Jonathan Tyler Lester. In his last start carrying a Perfect game into the 7th inning, and the start before that setting a new career high in strikeouts. It's hard to think of a better 1-2 punch in baseball right now. And please spare me the CC and Burnett garbage...Burnett has lightning stuff but is a SPITTING image of what Carl Pavano does. Performs great in contract years and other than that is riding the pine becuase of an injury. CC is a horse and is one of the best all around pitchers in baseball but I'd take Beckett vs. the Yankee lineup than CC vs. Boston's anyday.

I also feel compelled to give the bullpen some much needed love. These guys have the best bullpen in the league and many people have gone on record (Dennis Eckersley, Curt Schilling, Peter Gammons) saying that this is THE BEST bullpen EVER assembled. At first I had my quarrels with Saito and now that "Gas Masterson" is out there, we turned a nine inning game into a 6 inning game, because if you don't score off of Boston's starters you're not winning this ball game.

Finally, all pitching aside. The Red Sox have selected Reymond Fuentes, the cousin of Carlos Beltran, and distant relative of the Road Runner (meep meep) in the First round of the MLB Draft. This kid straight up flies. Reports are that he ran a 6.3 60 yard dash, he did what? Yes that's just under 10 yards per second. Speed Kills.

Stay Tuned

Ryan