Now that's what an Ace looks like.
When the Red Sox were brutally bounced from the playoffs by the White Sox two years ago, the universal opinion was that the team really never had a No. 1 pitcher to begin with.
They've got one now.
"Really," said Angels skipper Mike Scioscia, "the story tonight is Josh Beckett. The guy pitched an incredible ballgame. We didn't have many good looks at him."
How good was Josh Beckett last night? Depending on your depth of Red Sox postseason knowledge, it was either the best postseason pitching performance since Luis Tiant in '75, Jim Lonborg in '67, Boo Ferriss in '46, or perhaps even Babe Ruth in either - take your pick - 1918 (six-hit shutout in Game 1) or 1916 (the 14-inning, 2-1 conquest of the Dodgers).
But why stop there? You can throw in Smoky Joe Wood in 1912 and Big Bill Dinneen in 1903. It's right up there, somewhere. All any of the 37,597 need to know is there have been 52 postseason games in Fenway Park and they have a ticket stub testifying they have seen one of the best pitching shows ever put on in this ballpark.
This was a four-hit, no-walk, eight-strikeout complete-game dazzler in which Beckett retired 19 consecutive men following Chone Figgins's game-opening single. You know that oft-quoted word "command"? Well, Josh Beckett had command of all his pitches and was in command from start to finish. No way anyone was beating Josh Beckett last night.
"I mean, he just went out there and executed his pitches, in my opinion, better than he has at any point in the season," said manager Terry Francona. "He attacked the strike zone with all his pitches."
The fastball was consistently in hard-to-reach places at speeds generally ranging from 93 to 95 miles per hour. Both his curve and changeup had people waving pathetically. Figgins hit a 3-2 pitch for a single to center in the first and Beckett never went to three balls again. That's something a Bill Lee used to do, but Bill Lee never threw 90 in his life (although he once won a complete game with 78 pitches in which he reached zero three-ball counts).
Beckett is not known for his efficiency, but once he got locked in, he was an absolute strike-throwing machine. He had a 10-pitch fourth, a 13-pitch fifth, and an eight-pitch sixth. In one midgame stretch, he got five outs on 13 pitches and six on 17. From the third through the eighth, he threw 21 of 23 first-pitch strikes. Think Greg Maddux with electric stuff.
"I was ahead of a lot of guys, you know," said the 27-year-old righthander. "And they got a lot of guys who foul a lot of pitches off. And I just didn't want to get wrapped up in trying to strike out a lot of guys, because those are the at-bats that will end up killing your pitch count and you're out after 5 1/3 because you've got 120 pitches."
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