Beckett never said those words, but I bet that is what he was thinking. He is, after all, a 27-year-old, 6-foot-5-inch righthander with a World Series MVP on his résumé. He's got the best stuff on the team. Anybody with a bat can tell you that. He's also cocky. Downright nasty. He's been special since his earliest days in baseball and he knows it.
It had to hurt his pride a little last year when he came to the AL with the big reputation and gave up a whopping 36 homers to go with a Wasdin-esque 5.01 ERA. It wasn't a terrible season, but Beckett didn't dominate the way he's supposed to.
He didn't want to talk about any "change" after striking out eight Padres. Standing in front of his cubicle, Beckett was the same as he was on the mound: hardheaded and uncompromising. He won't give in.
The man is 11-1 with a 3.07 ERA and still has two more starts before the All-Star Game. He has surrendered only five homers in 91 innings. So what's the big difference between this year and last year?
"Luck," he said.
No, seriously, we pressed. What did he decide after his first year in the AL?
"I came into spring training wanting to throw all of my pitches for strikes," he deadpanned. "That's what I've done. That's what I've learned."
Pressed a little more, he admitted some differences between the leagues.
"You can get away with more in some ballparks in [the National] League," he said. "And the hitter in the eight-hole in the National League is not the same as the hitter in the eight-hole in the American League. In the National League you have the pitcher leading off a lot of innings. There are no free innings in the American League."
Sox catcher Jason Varitek, who hit a monstrous homer onto the beach in right-center field, expanded on the theme.
"He's gotten to know the league and get more comfortable in the environment," said the captain. "We utilize his changeup more. He's able to mix things up. He set out in spring training to utilize that weapon."
Translation: Beckett is not trying to blow away every hitter the way he did when he first came to Boston.
