Bye Bye Beckett

As you probably noticed, Josh Beckett announced his retirement last night. I've always been a Beckett fan. How could you not like someone who dominated the Yankees in the World Series as a youngster. When he came over to the Sox, that was clearly a big deal. Even when times were rough, I always thought he got the short end of the stick from fans in Boston. As I started thinking about this post, I flipped though my scorebooks looking at Beckett starts I had scored, and noticed something pretty cool.

Here is how Josh Beckett performed in games when I was at Fenway.

?? TOR-W 7 IP, 1ER, 2 K

9/19/06 NYY-L 5+IP, 9 ER, 2 K

4/10/07 SEA-W 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 K

9/15/07 NYY-W, 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 K

4/7/09 TB-W, 7 IP, 1 ER, 10 K

5/23/08 NYM-ND, 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 K

4/13/12 TB-W, 8 IP, 1 ER, 1 K

My goodness! If I was going to Fenway, and he was pitching, apparently I was assured of having a

good day. Even with the one absolute stinker against the Yankees, his career ERA in games I went to was 2.75. Ignoring that one (which, I know, you can’t do)? In six games he gave up one earned run per game, and went at least seven innings each time. That’s a 1.23 ERA. We’re talking Pedro numbers there. (Well, maybe Kershaw.) Look at that consistancy. 7 IP and 1 ER, like he was rolling out of bed.

So, maybe that’s why I’ve always had a soft spot for Josh Beckett. It’s not like I saw him have one great start, and be mediocre the rest of his career in Boston. His seven starts that I saw were spread out pretty evenly throughout his tenure. They were almost all amazing. Almost all of them allowed me to leave Fenway happy.

Not a bad result from a starting pitcher.