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October 23, 2007
By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON _ The last time Jeff Francis faced Josh Beckett, the Colorado Rockies starter out-dueled the Red Sox ace.
It was June 14 this season when the surging Rockies came to Fenway Park with Beckett sporting a 10-1 record, but Francis pitched a gem as Colorado beat Boston, 7-1. The 26-year-old lefty worked five-plus scoreless innings and allowed just seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Beckett, 27, who was pitching at the top of his game at the time, surrendered six runs on 10 hits in five innings of work.
“I don’t know him personally,” said Beckett. “I’ve obviously watched him in October and he pitched against me here during the season. He competes and throws all of his pitches for strikes. The thing that really impressed me about Jeff, watching him in October, was that he never changes his moods. It was really impressive to watch him pitch in both of those playoff games. . . It impressed me how even keel he was.”
While Beckett is a strong candidate for the Cy Young Award in the American League with a 20-7 regular-season mark, Francis finished with a 17-9 mark, including his victory over Beckett in June.
During the respective press conferences yesterday, Beckett and Francis proved to be two completely different individuals, at least publicly. Beckett is curt, quick and clearly does not like to deal with the media in this type of setting. Francis gave the old ‘golly-gee’ response to everything he was asked, like a kid at a carnival with a fist-full of quarters waiting for his turn at the radar gun. Beckett probably wished he had a gun.
Back in June was Francis’s first time at Fenway and he pitched pretty well. He said he’ll take that experience with him when he toes the rubber in Game One of the World Series tonight.
“Now we can come here and concentrate on the game,” said Francis. “We’re not in awe of the stadium. We’re not kind of blown away.”
Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said Francis was able to stay within his skill set and stayed with his strategies during his only outing at Fenway in June. If Francis can do the same tonight, the Rockies will have a chance, according to the manager despite the Fenway crowd.
“He worked both sides of the plate, keeping it down and elevated when he wanted to,” said Hurdle. “He was throwing some secondary pitches on offensive counts. He’s got a pretty slow heartbeat.”
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