[Beckett] gave up a leadoff single to Chone Figgins. After that, he faced 30 batters, threw 27 first-pitch strikes, and to those 30 hitters did not throw a ball to 16 of them. "I had great defense behind me, I tried to pitch to it," said Beckett.
But while Beckett may be the pitcher you'd most want pitching the most important game, the Boston approach against John Lackey was huge. On Monday, hitting coach Dave Magadan went through advance guru Dana Levangie's report and begged hitters to try to lay off Lackey's slider and curveball out of the strike zone.
Not one Boston hitter swung at a pitch out of the strike zone from Lackey.
Read that last line again : Not one Boston hitter swung at a pitch out of the strike zone from Lackey. Amazing.
Said hitting coach Dave Magadan, “I wasn’t sitting there thinking, ‘We aren’t swinging at a bad pitch,’ but that’s the way we are most of the time. It’s impressive, especially with a guy like Lackey, who lives with guys chasing breaking balls out of the zone. We did a really good job of making him get that up and seeing the ball out of his hand.”
Also, only Christy Mathewson (4) has more post-season shutouts than Beckett (3). Two others are tied (Whitey Ford and Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown).
Beckett's game score of 87 is the best by any starter in the post-season since -- Josh Beckett (93) for the Marlins in 2003.
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