``I mean, the guy is hitting three homers on pretty much the same pitch, something up in the strike zone. [When] I hit one, I don't see another pitch again all night. We've got to make adjustments."
Indeed, the Sox as a club and Josh Beckett as an individual have adjustments to make against a Toronto team that has posted some staggering offensive totals. The adjustments should begin with how to handle Wells, who has 15 homers this season, eight vs. the Sox, and is 6 for 12 with four homers off Beckett, two of those coming last night.
Regardless of what the Sox do here tonight -- and the odds are stacked against them with Double A righthander David Pauley opposing Sox silencer Ted Lilly -- they will lose this series. And with that, they will fall to 1-6-3 in 10 series against the Blue Jays since the beginning of last season.
Beckett, meanwhile, is 6-0 with a 1.98 ERA vs. all teams not based in Cleveland or Toronto. He is 1-2 with a 6.38 ERA in four games vs. the Blue Jays, having allowed 17 runs on 23 hits, seven of them homers, in 24 innings. He's 1-3 with an 8.13 ERA against Toronto and Cleveland, with 10 homers allowed in those five starts.
``It's poorly executed pitches," said Beckett (7-2, 4.46 ERA), who allowed a season-high 10 hits and a career-high four homers. ``It's nobody's fault but my own. I wish it had something to do with pitch selection."
But it doesn't. It has only to do with pitch location, and he'll tell you that before anyone else. Ask Beckett if he's surprised he's had to pay so much for mistakes this year and he'll tell you, ``No. Whenever you're talking about nine hitters in a lineup, that's the way it is."
In the National League, Beckett was facing about 7.5 batters per lineup, given the near-automatic out in the pitcher's spot and the luxury to pitch around the No. 8 hitter.
``You've got to execute a high number of pitches, especially against a lineup like this or any lineup in the American League," he said.
But he didn't. Jason Varitek had singled in Coco Crisp in the top of the first, giving Beckett a 1-0 lead. But he gave three runs back in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back blasts by Wells and Troy Glaus.
