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April 10, 2007
It wasn't uncommon last year for Red Sox starter Josh Beckett to throw fastballs on virtually every pitch of the first inning, trying to blaze his way through the opposition and set a tone early on.
That was one of the stubborn streaks that ultimately led to Beckett coughing up a career-high 36 home runs en route to a career-worst 5.01 earned-run average, even though his fastball consistently lit up the radar gun in the mid-90s.
This spring, Beckett vowed to listen more to catcher Jason Varitek, who preferred that the right-hander mix in more of his pitches earlier in the game, keeping the opposition from timing his hard stuff.
Today, Beckett put into practice what he had promised.
His third pitch of the game, on a 1-and-1 count, was a curveball to Ichiro Suzuki. The pitch surprised Ichiro, one of the top hitters in the game. He took it for a strike.
Later in the inning, Beckett threw an 0-and-1 changeup to Jose Vidro, the Mariners' number three hitter. Vidro took it for a strike. Vidro saw three offspeed pitches in his seven-pitch at-bat, ultimately grounding out to first base.
Beckett's new philosophy appeared again in the third inning.
With a runner at third and one out, Beckett's pitch sequence to Ichiro was fastball, changeup, curve and then a fastball that Ichiro swung late at and missed for a key strikeout. Adian Beltre was next. The sequence to him was changeup away (ball), curveball away (ball), curve (strike called), fastball inside (swing and a miss), fastball outside (foul) and fastball inside (flyout to center).
-- STEVEN KRASNER
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 1:34 PM | Permalink
