Beckett back to work

PHILADELPHIA — Since the moment they met, on an August weekend 12 years ago, Philadelphia Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee has known that Josh Beckett [stats] isn’t easily rattled.
Except, of course, when he has the flu.
A stomach illness laid up Beckett for several days last week, forcing the Red Sox [team stats] to delay his next start, first by five days, then by three more. By the time he went to the mound for last night’s interleague

series opener, it had been 12 days since his previous start, a complete-game one-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays .
Turns out, the layoff left just enough rust for a game when Beckett couldn’t afford any margin of error. And sure enough, he was upstaged by Cliff Lee in a 5-0 loss that left the Red Sox even more relieved that the Phillies ace lefty didn’t sign with the New York Yankees as a free agent last winter.
“It seems like that damn flu gets me every year,” Beckett said. “If it doesn’t get me in the offseason, it gets me in spring training or gets me some other time. I’m going to have somebody give it to me in the offseason so I don’t have to deal with this (expletive) anymore.”
Beckett, who entered with a major league-best 1.86 ERA, gave up home runs to Domonic Brown and Shane Victorino and saw his ERA rise to 2.20 with the five earned runs allowed. Lee, meanwhile, gave up two hits against the Red Sox’ stripped-down lineup in a complete-game performance and ran his career-high scoreless streak to 32 innings.
Before the game, Dubee recalled his first impression of Beckett. It was 1999, and the Brockton native was the pitching coach for the Florida Marlins, who had just drafted Beckett in the first round. Beckett traveled to Houston to meet the team, and upon walking into the clubhouse at the old Astrodome, the high schooler predicted he would be pitching in the All-Star Game within two years.
One veteran Marlins pitcher, Alex Fernandez, took exception to Beckett’s bravado.
“Alex really kind of lit into him in front of the whole team — ‘I’ve been in the big leagues 10 years and I haven’t pitched in the All-Star Game. I’ve got 100 wins, and you think, coming out of high school, you’re going to be in an All-Star Game,’ ” Dubee said. “You knew Josh was tough because Josh didn’t bat an eyelash.”
These days, Beckett is no less defiant. Amid doubts that he could regain his ace status after a nightmarish 2010, Beckett has been as dominant as ever. And after losing a duel with Lee, he pointed the finger at himself.
Beckett said he left a pitch up to Brown, who belted it into the right field seats in the second inning. He was trying to pitch around Victorino in the fifth, but instead left a pitch over the plate that was also blasted beyond right field.
“I pitched like (expletive),” Beckett said. “You can’t give that guy (Lee) two runs in the first or second inning.
“It just lets him go to his whole deal.”
In fact, Lee was surprised to be pitching with such a cushion.
“I wasn’t expecting us to get five runs off Beckett, the way he’s been pitching,” said Lee, 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA in his last five starts. “I was anticipating it being a closer game from start to finish.”
But Beckett remains the Red Sox’ most consistent starter, and from afar, Dubee could have predicted his resurgence.
“He’s going to find a way to succeed, and he’s never going to accept mediocrity,” Dubee said. “He’s still got tremendous stuff. He’s changed his pitching style a little bit over the years, but he’s still a bulldog and he prepares himself to win.”
It’s just a little more difficult after he’s been sick as a dog.

Beckett shines again as Sox dump Yankees

It was at Yankee Stadium just shy of a year ago when Josh Beckett was pulled in the fifth inning, having injured his back. Two months on the disabled list followed. From there, a bad season only got worse.

It led to questions about whether Beckett’s time as a frontline starter had come to an end, a theory bolstered when manager Terry Francona didn’t start him until the fourth game of the season.

Beckett has instead looked like the ace he once was.

Back in the Bronx, the righthander’s revitalization continued last night with six brilliant innings as the Red Sox slammed the Yankees, 6-0, before a sold-out crowd of 48,790.

Beckett (3-1) allowed four hits, all singles, with two walks and nine strikeouts. He has thrown 18 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, dropping his earned run average to 1.75.

“We had a lot of confidence in him. We always have,’’ Francona said. “He worked hard. He said at the end of last year that’d come back with a vengeance and I think he has.’’

Adrian Gonzalez’s three-run home run in the seventh inning off CC Sabathia (3-3) helped secure the win for Beckett, who has not allowed a run in 14 innings against the Yankees this season. Jacoby Ellsbury, who had two hits to raise his average to .301, added a two-run double.

“I’m making pitches when I need to and guys are playing great defense. That’s really it, there’s no secret to it,’’ said Beckett, who made up for lacking a good curveball with an effective changeup and his best cut fastball of the year.

The Sox, 4-1 against the Yankees this season, will have Jon Lester on the mound tonight as they try for the sweep and to get to .500 for the first time this season.

For the Yankees, it was a night of pinstriped turmoil on and off the field.

Jorge Posada, one of the team’s respected veterans, was scratched from the lineup 40 minutes before the first pitch after reportedly telling manager Joe Girardi that he refused to bat ninth. That led to an impromptu in-game press conference for general manager Brian Cashman in the back of the Yankee Stadium press box.

Once the game started, the Yankees lost their fourth straight and never came close to scoring. They have dropped 8 of 11 overall.

Sabathia allowed six runs on seven hits and three walks, falling to the Sox for the second time this season.

The Sox appeared to have Sabathia in trouble in the first inning. Ellsbury was hit by a pitch and then took third on a soft single to center by Dustin Pedroia (3 for 4).

But poor situational hitting, an issue with the Sox all season, was displayed again. Gonzalez, an RBI machine for the last few weeks, struck out swinging at a high fastball.

Kevin Youkilis then struck out on a slider, leaving him 0 for 11 with eight strikeouts with a runner on third and fewer than two outs. David Ortiz had the final chance and struck out on a slider in the dirt. In a span of 13 pitches, Sabathia ended the threat.

Beckett had a similar inning. After singles by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson, he struck out Mark Teixeira, got Alex Rodriguez to foul to first base, and struck out Robinson Cano.

Both pitchers got on a roll from there.

Sabathia had retired 12 straight going into the fifth inning when Jed Lowrie singled to right field. Carl Crawford followed with a single up the middle with one out. Sabathia then inexplicably walked Jason Varitek on four pitches.

Ellsbury made him pay for that mistake by ripping a slider into left-center for a two-run double.

The Yankees decided to intentionally walk Pedroia, who has been slumping, in order to get to the scalding-hot Gonzalez.

But it made sense given that righthanders were hitting .280 against Sabathia coming into the game and lefties were at .182.

The strategy paid off as Gonzalez broke his bat on the second pitch, a sinker, and grounded into a 5-4-3 double play that ended the inning.

The Sox added to their lead in the seventh. Mike Cameron drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Varitek lined an RBI single into right field to make it 3-0. It was Varitek’s first RBI against a lefthanded pitcher this season.

With two outs, Pedroia kept the inning alive with a single. This time, with first base occupied, the Yankees faced Gonzalez and he lined a fastball over the wall in right field.

Hitless to that point, Gonzalez told Francona he would look for a ball inside and take a swing like Ichiro Suzuki. He got that pitch, rotated his hips early, and flicked the ball over the fence.

“He amazes me. When you say you’re going to do it and you do it, that’s pretty impressive,’’ Francona said.

The home run was the fifth in four games for Gonzalez and his seventh in eight games. He leads the American League with 34 RBIs.

It’s no big deal, apparently.

“I usually go through these stretches once or twice a year,’’ Gonzalez said.

That was the night for Sabathia and Girardi, who was ejected by plate umpire Mike Winters after he made a trip to the mound.