Beckett threw the meat last night

That's right. Not the 'heat', but the 'meat'. I guess considering a 'meatball' is a term reserved for a hanging fastball down the middle of the plate, it doesn't make much sense to use the word 'meat' in place of 'heat' when speaking of a ridiculous 1ER/8inning/11K performance when it mattered most. Beckett certainly brought the heat last night. I just like to call it 'meat' because it's hilarious to think of the baseball as a ball of meat heading down the plate. Why this isn't done in baseball more often, I guess we'll never know. If I were a pitcher, I'd sneak a meatball or two in there, just for laughs.

Beckett is what Clemens should have been to the Sox, especially in the playoffs. We finally have our very own Roger Clemens, folks. Clemens never came up big when he needed to save for one or two playoff games, but given the amount of postseason games he's played, that's not saying much. Paul Byrd has come up big twice for Cleveland this postseason already, so again: it's not saying much. Clemens is supposed to be this legendary toughguy pitcher. Well, Beckett is better. And he's from Texas, too. What else could you possibly want?

Side note: I couldn't find a picture of Beckett's reaction, but if you watched the game last night, you saw that strange interaction with Lofton. On a 3-1 pitch, Lofton threw his bat down about 0.0001 seconds after the ball hit Varitek's glove - the umpire wasn't fooled, and called it a strike. Beckett, calm as ever, winds up to deliver the next pitch. It's a pop up, and from the replay, you could tell Beckett knew it RIGHT after it left Lofton's bat. Beckett immediately opened his mouth to scream something at Lofton. He's been pissing off the Sox this entire series. He's a great player, but not moving his ass into the batter's box and dropping his bat on a clear strike as if he's about to walk on a 3-1 pitch tends to get under the skin of immature millionaire frat-boy types. Still, I loved seeing Beckett let out a warcry as Lofton waited for the ball to be caught in center field, then having Lofton try to get in Beckett's face. Beckett, like a Siberian Husky being taunted and annoyed by a Pug, just smiled and waited for Lowell and the ump to get involved and take ol' Kenny away.

7-1 Sox. ALCS is now at 3-2 in favor of Cleveland. Everyone knows the Sox can put this away at home (even with the freightening prospect of Dice-K pitching Game 7...albeit on a very short leash), so I hope Casey Blake and his beard are ready to be disappointed.