Game 154: Beckett Wins 20th, Engraves Name On Cy Young Award |

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Game 154: Beckett Wins 20th, Engraves Name On Cy Young Award

By Administrator | September 22, 2007

Josh Beckett started the season as the would-be ace… the guy who aspired to someday become what Curt Schilling has been for many years. The Go-To Guy. The Ace. The Stopper. Well, with a little more than a week left in the 2007 season, Beckett has officially assumed the mantle as Red Sox ace. Tonight, the big righty from Spring, TX, achieved his first 20-win season… and in the process became the first pitcher in the major leagues to accomplish that feat since 2005 (when four pitchers won 20 games).

It says here that he also engraved his name on the 2007 AL Cy Young Award.

Coming into the game, it was painfully obvious that the Red Sox were scuffling and BADLY in need of a win. Tonight was the kind of game that makes or breaks a pitcher’s Cy Young Award candidacy — a Cy Young winner would “come up big” for his team and produce a win while a pretender would pitch a respectable game but prove incapable of closing the deal.

Beckett closed the deal.

He pitched six innings, allowing one run on four hits while whiffing eight D-Rays batters. The only run he allowed was scored in the first inning after a bout of early wildness. He walked a pair of hitters with one out and then was reached for a broken bat double by Delmon Young to drive home the run; but, with runners at second and third bases, he styruck out Johnny Gomes to end the threat.

Big Papi watches his ninth inning home run sail into the bleachers… combines with the Yankees loss the Sox lead is now back up to 2 1/2 games… AP photo

The Red Sox had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning on a Jacoby Ellsbury double, a sac bunt by Jacony Ellsbury and a throwing error by catcher Dioner Navarro (who threw to 3rd base in an effort to catch Ellsbury off the bag). After Tampa Bay tied the game, the Sox took the lead for good — scoring a pair of runs on a single by David Ortiz and a wild pitch.

The score stayed 3-1 until the eighth inning as Beckett and Devil rays starter Scott Kazmir matched zeroes… Kazmir allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks over five innings while striking out nine Red Sox hitters.

The Red Sox scored a run in the eighth inning on Jason Varitek’s fourteenth home run… and then scored four more times in the ninth inning — highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Ortiz (#32, a three-run homer) and Mike Lowell (#20).

But the night was mostly about Beckett. In a post-game interview, he said: “Twenty wins — it means a lot. A lot of hard work from different people, and they picked me up on days when I was not 100 percent. It takes a lot of people to win that many games. I don’t know if I can take credit for all of it”.

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Eric Gagne pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two batters… it was only the second time since being acquired by the Red Sox that he pitched a perfect inning of relief.

Manny Delcarmen and Javier Lopez combined on an additional two innings of perfect relief.

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The win ended a four-game losing streak… combined with the Yankees loss to Toronto (5-4, in 14 innings), the Boston lead in the AL East is back to 2 1/2 games.

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Tonight, Mike Lowell became the first Red Sox third baseman IN HISTORY to have back-to-back 20-home run seasons.

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Manny Ramirez (strained left oblique muscle) was out of the lineup for the 22nd consecutive game and is now not expected to return during this series.

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One Response to “Game 154: Beckett Wins 20th, Engraves Name On Cy Young Award”

Timothy Haroutunian Says:
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I am confused, I don’t know how ESPN predicts the Cy Young Award winner, but they have CC Sabathia ahead by 1.5 points right now. Beckett deserves the award over Sabathia, but they apparently don’t think so. Do you know how close their predicting is to the real determination?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/cy