MLB.com is giving out its annual awards right now, as voted upon by nearly 10 million baseball fans worldwide. Today, it was Josh Beckett winning a "This Year In Baseball" award for being the Top Starting Pitcher.
I know it's not nearly as prestigious as the Cy Young, but I also think that because this award encompasses the entire season rather than just the regular season, Beckett was the right choice. In my opinion, the difference between Beckett and C.C. Sabathia during the regular season was so small that Beckett's dominance in the postseason (including two wins against Sabathia, specifically) was more than enough to make him the best starting pitcher in the bigs this past season.
Tomorrow, MLB.com announces the award for closer, an honor which should go to J.J. Putz (1.38, 40 saves, 82K, 49 baserunners in 71 2/3 IP). The day after that, it's best manager (has to be Clint Hurdle, right?), then performance of the year (another one for Beckett?), rookie (let the Braun/Tulowitzki debate begin again), hitter (A-Rod), setup man (Cleveland's Rafael Betancourt), defensive player (Tulowitzki), blooper/play (no idea, maybe the ALDS bug attack in Cleveland or the entire 30-3 game at Camden Yards?) and finally moment/postseason moment (the Rockies beating Trevor Hoffman in extra innings of an extra game to go to the playoffs).
Yes, your boy Josh Beckett lost out in the Cy Young voting to a guy he beat twice in the ALCS and he did so by a surprisingly large margin. But let's not forget you just won your second World Series title in 4 years, swept the hottest team in postseason history, had the AL Rookie of the Year and two more of your rookies get votes in the category, and your arch-rival just lost their best player to free agency.
Things could be worse. You could be any other team in baseball.
With the weight of his team's season on his shoulders, Boston Red Sox ace Josh Beckett delivered again Thursday night, allowing just one run over 8, striking out 11, and out-dueling C.C. Sabathia (again) to send the ALCS back to Boston.
Having watched much of the game myself, I am convinced Beckett has the most devastating combination of fastball/curveball in all of baseball. He was in the mid-to-high 90's all night and got so many swings and misses with his hammer (and a few called strikes as well) I just don't see how people make consistent, solid contact against this guy. Even when he fell behind hitters (2-0, 3-1) they still took very awkward, unsure hacks and ended up punching out or putting the ball in play weakly.
So that's the good news for Sox fans- you're headed home for games 6 and 7.
The bad news is you have Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka starting must-win games, and you have a bullpen that, let's face it, Terry Francona simply doesn't trust beyond Jonathan Papelbon. This postseason, Boston's relievers have a 4.63 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, zero saves or holds, and 14 walks in 23 1/3 IP.
Now for a real-life example of Francona's lack of trust. Last night, going into the bottom of the 8th inning, the Sox were already up 7-1 but Francona sent Beckett out to get 3 more outs. Now, I know he hadn't hit 100 pitches yet and was dominating, but if I'm a manager staring down two more elimination games Saturday and Sunday and can possibly have JB work relief in Game 7, why not yank him after 7 with a comfy lead and let your trusty pen get the last 6 outs? Ah, I know- because you don't have a trusty pen.
I also know this. After their extra innings extravaganza Saturday night (into Sunday morning) Cleveland no longer fears Fenway. And if Schilling and Dicey don't go deep into the game, the Sox could be thrown in the hamper.
With most of the focus this post about Boston's pitching, I want to make a quick note about their offense. It's remarkable how they go as Pedroia and Youkilis go. In the two games they've won, their 1-2 hitters are 7-16 with a .526 OBP, 7 runs scored, and 3 RBI. But in the 3 games they've lost, Pedroia and Youkilis are 6-23 with a .346 OBP, 2 runs scored, and 1 RBI. They're hitting in front of two of the best in the game. But if they don't get on, Manny and Papi's homeruns and solo shots, and their singles don't drive anybody in. Funny how that works.
Josh Beckett and John Lackey are making most of the headlines this morning because they both notched their 15th wins of the season last night. They're the top stories (along with Rick Ankiel) because baseball fans and baseball writers remain inexplicably enamored with a statistic that doesn't measure a pitcher's skill and dominance with the same precision as less sexy stats like WHIP, OPS against, quality start percentage, and K:BB ratio. And that's wrong.
To earn a win, you only need to pitch 5 innings, leave with a lead, and have it hold up. This really means you need to be on a team that scores a lot of runs, plays good defense, and has an excellent bullpen. I'd say the Red Sox and Angels get check-marks in all three categories, no thanks to Beckett, Lakcey, or any of their other starting pitchers.
My point is, while they've definitely both enjoyed tremendous seasons and easily rank among the game's best right now, they're not alone. So why do they deserve extra credit for things they cannot, and do not control? If Joel Pineiro was Boston's closer and had coughed up of 4 of Beckett's wins this year, but his other numbers were exactly the same, Beckett's 11th win of the season yesterday would have been completely under the radar. It baffles me, but I digress (for the record, Chris Young has the best WHIP in baseball at 1.00 while Beckett is 10th at 1.11 and Lackey is 30th at 1.24; Young also leads in OPS against at .520 while Beckett is 9th at .639 and Lackey is 25th at .688; nobody has a higher quality start percentage than Dan Haren at 92%, Lackey is 15th at 71%, Beckett is 16th at 68%; and C.C. Sabathia's 5.92 is the best K:BB in the game, Beckett is 3rd at 4.83, Lackey is 25th at 2.93.)
Instead, I want to focus on two other pitchers who have been (with all apologies to Dick Vitale) dominant with a capital "D" of late, but haven't received the same praise. I'm talking about Brandon Webb and Bobby Jenks.
Webb is more than halfway to Orel Hershiser's seemingly unreachable record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings, running his total to a club record 33 after last night's shutout against the Nationals. Here's how hard this is to do. A guy leads off the inning with a perfect bunt base hit, the next guy hits a groundball to your second baseman whose only play is to first (runner moves up to second), and the next batter hits one to your third baseman, who throws it away. A run is in and a ball hasn't left the infield.
Throwing one shutout is hard enough in baseball. Webb's thrown back to back shutouts now, en route to tossing 33 straight over the course of 5 starts. That goes above and beyond hard. And putting 59 consecutive goose eggs up on the scoreboard is, as Webb desrcibed it, "probably around Cal Ripken territory...one of the most difficult ones to reach."
For Webb, it's always been about control. He fanned 10 and walked 1 last night, and over the course of his streak, he's struck out 29 and waked just 6. For the season he has 155 K's and 56 walks (thus the 2.77 ERA and 1.21 WHIP), but back in his 16-loss season of 2004, he walked a worst-in-baseball 119 hitters. The sinker was sinking almost too much. Now though, it appears he has it more than under control.
Next, we go to Jenks, who's complied a streak that is arguably even more impressive than Webb's, in that his tied a league record. Big And Wide has retired 38 straight hitters. That's a perfect game, plus 11 more outs, out of the bullpen. After blowing a save against the Indians back on July 17, then retiring 3 hitters to force extras, Jenks has posted 12 straight 1-2-3 outings. And these haven't been meaningless mop-up innings. He got saves in 8 of those appearances, a win in another, and 3 times he was protecting a 1-run lead.
Manager Ozzie Guillen called it "amazing" saying Jenks' streak is even more impressive than fellow Sox hurler Mark Buehrle's no-hitter earlier this season, because Jenks is facing a new team each time out.
Interestingly, Jenks is now tied with another, shall we say, "rotund" pitcher for the league record- David Wells. Wells came into his infamous hung-over perfect game in 1998 having retired 10 straight Royals the start before. After going 27 up and 27 down against the Twins, Boomer retired Red Sox leadoff man Darren Lewis in his next start before allowing Darren Bragg to single to left field, thus ending his streak at 38 straight hitters (those Red Sox Darrens in the late 90's will get you every time).
If Jenks goes 1-2-3 in his next outing (the Sox host the Mariners today at 2:05) he'll have tied Jim Barr's major league record of 41 in a row, set 35 years ago when pitched for the San Francisco Giants. Unlike Jenks, Barr was a starter as well.
But the Sox aren't great this year so it could take Jenks a few days to potentially tie and break the record. Unfortunately, if he's going for history Tuesday, he probably won't be the biggest story of the day in baseball, or even in his own city. That's because Carlos Zambrano will be gunning for his 15th win against the Reds that night.
MLB.com is giving out its annual awards right now, as voted upon by nearly 10 million baseball fans worldwide. Today, it was Josh Beckett winning a "This Year In Baseball" award for being the Top Starting Pitcher.
