But maybe it's just as well for Papelbon that the wager fell through. On the mound, Beckett's start has inspired mention of Babe Ruth, the pitcher, and as hot as Beckett is, he just might start swinging like the Babe, too.
Beckett reeled off his sixth straight win last night, becoming the first Sox pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1991 to do so and drawing within two of a club record shared by Ruth, among others. "I'm still kind of unaware of how great a pitcher he was," Beckett said of the Babe. "But any time you're mentioned in the same point as Babe Ruth, when you didn't give up one of his milestone home runs, it's obviously a tremendous feat."
The Sox, with Papelbon sitting out after he'd sustained his first blown save, came away with a split of this brief series with the Athletics, who lost more than a ballgame last night. New designated hitter Mike Piazza, imported to replace strongman Frank Thomas, sustained a sprained right AC joint in his right shoulder in a collision with Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. Piazza was hurt when Lowell, after fielding a ball a few feet behind the bag, decided his best shot to get Piazza at third was to tag him, rather than the bag, diving into Piazza with his glove as Piazza dived headfirst into the bag.
That play ended the top of the sixth, after the Athletics had overcome an early 2-0 deficit against Beckett to take the lead on three singles, the last by Dan Johnson, after Jason Kendall had tied the score with a two-run single in the fifth. Piazza left the game and will be out four to six weeks, according to Oakland manager Bob Geren, a big blow to a team already missing starting outfielders Milton Bradley and Mark Kotsay.
"I asked him, 'Are you OK?' and I heard him say, 'My arm, my arm' " Lowell said. "I was like, 'Let me just get out of here.' What am I going to do, hug him?"
