Antsy
Spring Training Game 24: March 26, 2006
Red Sox (7-16-1), 3
Phillies (15-9-1), 2
W: Josh Beckett (2-0)
L: Cory Lidle (1-1)
Josh Beckett was about as intense as Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver on Sunday. He was as keyed up as Curt Schilling was when he made his Spring Training debut back in 2004 against Boston College. Beckett had a run-in Ryan Howard, the Phillies’ enfant terrible who was on a torrid homer streak. The Red Sox held Howard to no hits with two strikeouts in three at bats, and his last out in the seventh inning was a long fly ball to center that was brought down by the wind. Howard gazed adoringly at the trajectory of his eventual out, something that Beckett took issue with:
“It’s not like I wanted to fight the guy, but I wanted to make the point that you look like an idiot when you do that and it’s an out. It was my fault. I should’ve let it go. He didn’t do that last year when he was hitting a bunch of homers. I guess one season changes you.”Interesting words from a World Series MVP about the NL Rookie of the Year. In turn, Howard stated that he wasn’t trying to showboat and wasn’t sure where the ball went. Benches cleared but no blows were thrown. The two teams meet in two series this year: a May series at Philadelphia and a June series at Fenway, so we’ll see if there’s any repercussions.
The Red Sox usually save that sort of thing for the Devil Rays. It’s early, but Julian Tavarez already had his first incident, this time against an animate object. Joey Gathright and the righty reliever got tangled up in a play at home. Tavarez hit Gathright “like a woman,” so I’m surprised the center fielder is still alive to tell the tale. As usual, the Red Sox and Devil Rays will play nineteen times, so there will copious opportunities for retribution. I wonder if Tampa Bay will exact revenge now that Joe Maddon rather than Lou Piniella is the field manager?
Comments
Wow...seeing the Grapefruit League record of the Sox in print is shocking, even though I knew it isn't good. My local paper has not been printing the standings, and I did not miss them. But, hey. Turn it around now, rather than having a hideous start to the season.
peter n. ∙ 29 March 2006 ∙ 11:12 AM
Step away from the ledge, Peter--they did beat all those college teams they played.
Ah, it's not a real Spring Training until we get panicky about the team. It's this rather than the increasingly longer days that is my cue that baseball is in the offing.
Joanna
∙ 29 March 2006 ∙
11:27 AM
No ledge in sight, Joanna. In fact, excluding injuries, I am curiously not affected by Spring Training in any way. My emotions will be turned on around 2pm Monday afternoon, and they'll continue to rage until hopefully late October. My blog will showcase those sometimes overwhelming emotions. Rated PG-13 sometimes, too. Take care Jo.
peter n. ∙ 30 March 2006 ∙ 10:42 AM