Forget apologies, Beckett has chance to make amends
Will Josh Beckett get cheered or booed as he warms up in the bullpen before the Red Sox' home opener at Fenway Park on Friday?
Regardless, he isn't worried.
"That's nothing I can control," Beckett said.
Maybe not, although Beckett could have placated the masses by apologizing for his role at the center of last season's beer-and-chicken flap in the clubhouse.
But he reported to spring training in February and admitted only to making "mistakes" and having "lapses in judgment," while denying suggestions that he didn't stay in shape and expressing anger that the occasional in-game consumption of light beer and fried chicken by several starting pitchers became public.
And still, he could have smoothed things over with the fan base by pitching well last Saturday in Detroit. Instead, he tied an unwelcome career-high by allowing five home runs and giving up seven runs in 4 2/3 innings of a 10-0 throttling by the Tigers.
Beckett continues to deny that his bothersome right thumb was the cause of any problems. He also disputes manager Bobby Valentine's suggestion that he might have been throwing his changeup too hard, creating little different in velocity with his cutter-slider.
Instead, in reviewing Saturday's game, Beckett said his biggest issue stemmed from mechanics.
"I felt like I was getting very rotational and not throwing up and down, which are the things I do when I'm successful," Beckett said. "Just adds a little movement and a different angle to the ball.
"That first start's always a crapshoot. You've got a lot of anxiety leading up to that. You want to do well. A lot of times you expend too much energy on things that don't help you be successful."
Along those lines, Beckett said he's honored to be starting the 100th opener at Fenway Park. He has started four of the last five home openers (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010) and realizes the uniqueness of the first game at Fenway.
"It's such a special place," Beckett said. "I know everybody gets to see it driving up, but it's really exciting to drive up and see all that stuff on the day you're pitching. There's probably not another place like it.
"There's really no way to describe it. Driving up Boylston, waiting at the crosswalks, everybody's already down there. It's as busy right then as it will be after the game. It's pretty neat."
But it's unclear what the reception will be like for the Red Sox, who return home with a 1-5 record. It marks the second consecutive season that they had a lousy season-opening trip (they started 0-6 last year), but this time, it comes on the heels of a historic collapse last September that caused them to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
In their last 33 games dating to last Sept. 1, the Red Sox are 8-25.
But Beckett draws a distinction between anything that happened last season and the first six games of this year, especially the mood in the dugout. Despite their record, the Red Sox have shown a knack for rallying in the ninth inning, something Beckett didn't believe they were capable of last season.
"In September? No," Beckett said. "Sometimes when you get in a rut like that, you sit back and wait for something bad to happen instead of going out and making something good happen.
"There was a lot of things going on last year. When we were 0-6, it just seemed like we never would get a break. Last year when the season started, Texas was locked in, that ballpark, they were excited coming off their first World Series. It just seemed like nothing could go right.
"Losing is never fun. It's (expletive) to start out the way we have. But this year I feel like we've done some good things. We've just got to continue to do those things. We've hit a lot of balls hard right at guys."
