Is Fatigue Setting in For Josh Beckett?
Josh Beckett is on a pace to pitch more innings than he ever has in his baseball career. Blisters and oblique injuries have sidelined him in the past but he has managed to stay healthy this season. He has given up more home runs (12) in his last four starts than the previous twenty two starts (10) and his velocity was off by a few mph on the gun last night. With Dice-K coming back soon and the possible arrival of Paul Byrd the Red Sox may have the ability to reduce Beckett's workload, but that is assuming that Tazawa can work things out. With such a close pennant chase the Red Sox must decide if they use Beckett cautiously or continue to throw him out there and hope that things will work themselves out.
2 comments:
You thought Becks velocity was off? I thought it was just fine...he was hitting 95 consistently, etc.
I don't think he is fatigued. I think that he is struggling with location for whatever reason, but is throwing just as hard.
MLBN was debating what is wrong with Beckett last night. Harold Reynolds thinks Beckett is tipping his pitches. Others disagree and say it is location, location, location. They showed a bunch of his HRs...where Tek or V MART set up and where Beckett threw the ball. They were off...by a lot.
So, if he makes those adjustments and I have confidence that he will, I think we'll see the Beckett we know and love.
He was off by about 1 mph on his fastball for most of the game...nothing major like an injury but it might be the reason for the increase in HR's. I agree with you that he should be fine, it is just strange to see such a sudden drop off after being so dominant after April this season.
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