Two more shots
The Cubs were on the sharp end of a great pitching performance by Florida's Josh Beckett yesterday. Beckett threw a complete-game, two-hit shutout and baffled the Cubs' hitters with a canny mixture of fastballs, curveballs and changeups. He threw 115 pitches on the night, 80 of them for strikes...
In the fourth inning, Beckett threw a pitch high and inside to Sammy Sosa, to which Sammy took exception - I think everyone in the ballpark had visions of a "Florida Flare-Up" to match Saturday's fiasco in Boston, but Ivan Rodriguez did a great job of calming Sammy down and not letting things get out of hand. (The more I see Pudge play, the more I realise what a key factor he is in the Marlins' success this year - on MLB.com, Mark Newman makes the point that in yesterday's game, Pudge pretty much did it all...). Then, in the same at-bat, Beckett threw a blazing fastball that was clocked at 100mph and he finished the at-bat with a 3-2 changeup that had Sammy frozen like a rabbit caught in somebody's headlights...
As much as I wanted to see the Cubs win the game, I have to admit that Beckett pitched a great game - he looked less like a 23-year-old and more like a wily 23-year veteran. However, when all's said and done, the win still leaves Florida down 3-2 in the series, and the Cubs have two more chances to get to their first World Series since 1945. Not only that, but they have their two aces - Mark Prior and Kerry Wood - ready to go for the final two games. The Fish are not quite cooked yet, but it sure looks like somebody's setting the table...
In the fourth inning, Beckett threw a pitch high and inside to Sammy Sosa, to which Sammy took exception - I think everyone in the ballpark had visions of a "Florida Flare-Up" to match Saturday's fiasco in Boston, but Ivan Rodriguez did a great job of calming Sammy down and not letting things get out of hand. (The more I see Pudge play, the more I realise what a key factor he is in the Marlins' success this year - on MLB.com, Mark Newman makes the point that in yesterday's game, Pudge pretty much did it all...). Then, in the same at-bat, Beckett threw a blazing fastball that was clocked at 100mph and he finished the at-bat with a 3-2 changeup that had Sammy frozen like a rabbit caught in somebody's headlights...
As much as I wanted to see the Cubs win the game, I have to admit that Beckett pitched a great game - he looked less like a 23-year-old and more like a wily 23-year veteran. However, when all's said and done, the win still leaves Florida down 3-2 in the series, and the Cubs have two more chances to get to their first World Series since 1945. Not only that, but they have their two aces - Mark Prior and Kerry Wood - ready to go for the final two games. The Fish are not quite cooked yet, but it sure looks like somebody's setting the table...
posted by Iain at
13:08
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