« POSTGAME: Hurdles for Hurdle and his Rockies
Main
POSTGAME: Role call »
October 25, 2007
By STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- The last time Josh Beckett faced the Rockies, he was shelled at Fenway Park, coughing up six runs on 10 hits in a 7-1 loss. It was his first setback of the year.
So you might think that he had gone over the video of that poor outing before facing Colorado again last night in Game One of the World Series.
If you thought so, you would have been wrong.
''I didn't look at it one time, no,'' said Beckett after limiting the Rockies to one run on six hits in seven innings of the Sox' 13-1 romp.
''I try not to harp on those negative things too much. Obviously that wasn't a start that I want to go back and replay in my mind. I think I just kind of go with my strengths and execute those, and when you need to, you exploit their weaknesses,'' said Beckett, who fanned nine and walked only one in his 93-pitch outing.
Beckett is 4-0 with a 1.20 earned-run average in the postseason this year. But don't expect him to become overly analytical or get caught up in his superb performances under the most pressure-packed of situations.
''I hope my teammates are happy," said Beckett. ''That's who I'm really here to please. If they're happy, I'm happy. They go out there and bust their tail for me all the time and I feel like I need to really do my part and help carry my load.''
The right-hander was appreciative of what the Sox' offense did for him last night -- leads of 3-0 after the first and 6-1 after the fourth. It was typical of the offense's approach, he said.
''They really work pitchers,'' said Beckett. ''When you have a team plan like we have every night it's kind of fun to watch. There's not a lot of teams, very few, that do what we do and have that team approach. Every time they go up there they're trying to see five or six pitches and they grind pitchers out. Not many (pitchers) last until the sixth inning against us.''
''What we try to do is get to the middle guys in the (other teams') bullpens. Those are the guys that are not good enough really to be closers and not really starters. If we can get to those guys, that's where we usually score the runs," he said.
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 1:06 AM | Permalink
