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October 2, 2007
BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- Bits from Josh Beckett's press conference:
-- Don't ask Beckett, Boston's starter in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Angels tomorrow night, to do any in-depth comparisons.
This is 2007, not 2003 when, as a 23-year-old, the right-hander buzzed his way through the Yankees lineup and pitched the Florida Marlins to a World Series title over New York.
And what can he take from that postseason experience into this one?
"Nothing," said Beckett, the majors' only 20-game winner this season and a seeming lock to win the American League's Cy Young Award.
"I've got to go out and execute pitches (this postseason) just like I did in 2003," said Beckett this afternoon. "I don't think (what he did in 2003) has any bearing on what's going on now. I certainly think you learn a lot through failure and through succeeding. As you get older, obviously, you're still learning. You learn a lot of crucial things along the way. But I don't think anybody will ever consider their learning process completed in this game," he said
-- The Angels' style of play has impressed Beckett.
"They can run. They've got guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark. They move runners over. They play very fundamentally sound. They play the game the right way, the way they have to play to win. And they don't make mistakes, offensively or defensively. We have to play fundamentally sound if we want to compete with them," he said.
-- One player in the Angels' batting order who will definitely have Beckett's attention will be former MVP Vladimir Guerrero, the most effective and powerful free-swinger in baseball.
"You have to be very careful (pitching to Guerrero)," said Beckett. "You have to be even more worried about being careless because if you think you're wasting a pitch, it may not be a waste pitch to him and he'll find a way to hit it as far as anybody.
"I think the thing is you really need to focus on not being careless," he added. "You have to be careful anyway because of who he is, but it's when you get a little bit careless, that's when people make mistakes, and mistakes are not good this time of year."
Manager Terry Francona chimed in on the difficulties in pitching to Guerrero, who batted .324 with 27 homers and 125 RBI this season.
"There's not a pitch that's thrown that he doesn't think he can hit," said Francona. "And unfortunately he does hit some of them. He seems to hit balls six inches off the ground. When you go over how to pitch to him, throwing him a strike on the black is not necessarily a good pitch. Sometimes you have to attack him off the plate in and out because he can reach so much and with so much authority."
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