Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
After everything seemingly going right during their blistering start, the Red Sox have hit the first real bump in the road of the 2007 season.
It appears Josh Beckett’s nagging blister issues are back in play. I realize it’s a bit early to speculate and we don’t have a definitive answer from the Sox as of now, but this is a blog after all, and what fun would it be if didn’t speculate. Besides, it's Mother's Day...it's crazy busy here at the restaurat, and I'm at least making an effort to throw fresh material at you instead of taking the day off!
“Irritation in his right middle finger” is currently being listed as the cause for Beckett’s early departure from Sunday’s game against the Orioles. So I think it’s fair to guess the blister problems that have plagued the talented young righty his entire career have resurfaced. We’ll have to wait and see if this leads to a shutdown period, or if it will continue to hamper him throughout the summer. However, this raises a red flag for me, one that’s been raised before in other places.
While a very effective starter for the Marlins, Beckett constantly battled blister problems. Last year, he came to Boston and stunk out the joint, but never missed any time with finger issues. He returns this year, better than ever, and suddenly the blister rears its ugly head again (if indeed that’s what it is). Which again raises the questions;
Did Beckett stop using a particular pitch or grip last year to avoid the problems? If so, did that contribute to his struggles on the mound? Is his dominance in ’07 due to the return of that particular pitch or grip? And if so, does this mean Boston’s young ace is caught in a catch-22 of being a potential Cy Young winner who constantly battles blisters or a disappointing starter who stays healthy the entire season?
I hope I’m wrong, but I think we already know the answers.
Watched Extra Innings and according to both Francona and Beckett this is not a blister incident... Guess we'll have to wait and see if he makes his next start and whether or not it happens again...
Great win for the Sox though. What in the world was Perlozzo thinking going to the pen after Guthrie had stifled the Sox for nearly the entire game?
Thank God the Wings/Ducks game wasn't on until 7:30 p.m. or I might had missed it LOL.
Just goes to show you just how fragile a team's basebgall season can be . . . you're just a couple of injuries away from it all going down the drain.
I wouldn't worry about it this year unless it happens again in a short timeframe. With the sort of doctors they have access to in Boston I figured the blister problem would be a thing of the past- I'm guessing the Marlins did not have the greatest medical providers working with them.... Maybe it was a side effect of the blisters??
He sure looked good while he was in there yesterday so until (and unless) it affects his pitching I won't worry about it right now. If he has to skip a start or two I probably still wouldn't get overly-concerned as long as it stops there. Because it's Beckett is does raise a bit of a red flag but I think I'd take a wait-and-see approach. They've got enough of a lead right now, with it being May, to take a cautious approach and make sure he's okay.
At least it doesn't seem to be a Joel Zumaya-like injury. Imagine getting put on the shelf for an injury warming up in the bullpen...
The kid can't catch a break. Hopefully they can give him enough time off to keep the finger healthy for the playoffs. They might have enough starters to get by without a couple of starts from Josh here and there. As long as he's healthy in october. He's already shown what he can do in the playoffs.