''That was about all I had," Beckett said after last night's 2-1 win, ''that last pitch."
Beckett, all arm and energy last night, responded with a motion similar to Hickox's, though significantly far more vociferous. He took a step, stopped, and pumped his fist hard, yelling, like it was October in New York, rather than April 5 in Texas.
Nearing the dugout steps, where Curt Schilling had the excitement of an 11-year-old boy who'd found a playmate exactly like himself, Beckett paused and did something rather Schilling-like. He turned, cupped his glove next to his mouth to help the sound travel, and yelled to Hickox. It took a couple attempts, before Hickox, cracking a smile, turned to Beckett. Thanks, he said. Or something like that.
''I love that [stuff]," David Ortiz said of Beckett's raw emotion. ''People in Boston are going to have fun with this guy. I think we've got two Curt Schillings."
Beckett, in his American Legue debut, in his home state (he's a native of Spring, Texas, four hours south of here), had reason to be jacked up. After a shaky 23-pitch, three-hit, one-run, one-wild-pitch first inning, Beckett looked likely to be on the hook for an ''L," despite hanging zeros the rest of the way. Through six innings, the scoreboard high above the second porch in right at Ameriquest Field read:
BOSTON 000 000
TEXAS 100 000
Kameron Loe, Texas's 6-foot-8-inch righthander with a three-quarter arm slot making only the 10th start of his big league career, had been sinking the ball with near-perfect results, allowing only two hits through five innings, both singles by Mark Loretta. But Ortiz had erased Loretta both times, grounding into a 3-6-3 double play in the first and a 4-6-3 double play in the fourth.
''He made one mistake," Ortiz said of Loe. ''Only one mistake."
