October 22, 200322 yr Millar: Beckett pitched his heart out 'He's almost a poor man's Pedro Martinez' That was a great game tonight. It was a 1-1 game after seven and things just got out of hand there a little bit in the ninth. Josh Beckett pitched his heart out. Mike Mussina was also real good; he got out of a couple of jams. But there go those Yankees again. You have to tip your hat to Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams. I'll tell you what, Beckett is making a name for himself. He's more polished than he was when I was over there with him. He's got that breaking ball and a changeup with tons of movement and the fastball he cranks in there around 95 or 96 mph. The big difference between him now and earlier in his career is the command of his breaking ball. He can throw it in there at 3-2 and drop it in for the out-pitch. He's almost a poor man's Pedro Martinez right now. Pedro can throw his curve in there at any time, and Beckett did that to Aaron Boone. It looks like nothing fazes him. Ten strikeouts in his first World Series game, that's pretty impressive. I'm sure the rain delay was frustrating for both teams but I don't think it affected the outcome of the game at all. It just took a little adrenaline away. Everyone is excited to play and then, bam, there's a rain delay. You want the game to be in good weather, you don't want people slipping and falling. When I played for the Marlins, we were so used to the rain delays. It gets to the point where you expect them. That's why we always played well at home. The other team was miserable between the heat and the humidity and the rain. Mussina's just so smart. He walked Juan Pierre there intentionally in the seventh and then was determined to throw his breaking ball against Luis Castillo. He waited for Castillo to make an adjustment and he didn't, and he struck him out on a pretty nasty breaking ball. This game was what World Series games are supposed to be about. Beckett and Mussina were going after it, you wished they could have finished it. It was a heck of a duel by two horses. The key to the game ended up being Matsui's at-bat against Dontrelle Willis. Matsui has such great at-bats and he never tries to yank the ball. He's never fooled. That's a big key to his success. He never saw Willis before tonight and just stayed with the pitch and got that single to break the tie. With the Yankees, it's almost like they lose that first game just to get the other team where they want them. They've done it in every series. It's going to be tough for the Marlins now. I'd be surprised if they bounced back tomorrow against Roger Clemens, but they're resilient so who knows. Who thought they were going to beat Mark Prior and Kerry Wood in Games 6 and 7? If they want to have a chance in this game, they need to get Roger's pitch count up. As great as he is, he's 41 years old. The more pitches you see, the quicker you can get that pitch count up and get him out of there. The Marlins are going to get heaters and splits all day from Rocket. Sure, the Marlins have a chance to score some runs against him, but he could also shut them down. As for Carl Pavano, he has a good slider and changeup and he has to mix in his breaking ball too. He has to have his "A" game to beat these Yankees. The Marlins have to win tomorrow, no doubt about it. This game is to get the Series back even. If you go down 3-1 to the Yankees, you're in trouble. http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/...t=.jsp&c_id=mlb Your thoughts???
October 22, 200322 yr Clemens may be 41, but he's a horse and an innings eater. He's good for 120 pitches if he needs to because he uses his huge lower body for velocity instead of relying on his arm... If Pavano lives in the strike zone tonight, he's going to die in the strike zone. I've been saying this for a while to dispell some myths, but these Yankees aren't the patient Yankees who won the WS's in the 90's. These Yankees are free swingers. Pavano has to be willing to throw a couple of balls and get the Yankees to chase some sliders out of the strike zone. If he doesn't, the Fish are dead meat.
October 22, 200322 yr Author nothing we didn't already know..... Well, I'd rather read this from someone who knows other than some stupid journalist. I like reading this from a player's point of view better. That's why I posted it.
October 22, 200322 yr Author pavz better be ready. i dont want to see that pen up early. I am crossing my fingers! I have faith in him.
October 22, 200322 yr nothing we didn't already know..... Well, I'd rather read this from someone who knows other than some stupid journalist. I like reading this from a player's point of view better. That's why I posted it. fair enough.
October 22, 200322 yr Beckett pitched great Yesterday night but yet again the bullpen have up 4 runs. Looper got hit hard again.....when is he going to get out of this slump! Pavz has been inconsistant at times but i have alot of faith on him with the way he has been pitching in the playoffs. He dominated in the bullpen and starting. We need to hit clemens early, we cant let him dominate us!
October 22, 200322 yr I wish we could have kept Millar. Even if it meant trading Lee away. Or not picking up Hollandsworth.
October 22, 200322 yr Any pitcher can be beaten if the team takes a good approach to the plate. That's how we beat Prior and Wood. The talent flashed through on Cabrera's 3 run bomb against Wood, but other than that it was just smarts and patience. Other than Conine and Pierre, we haven't seen any of those qualities from our hitters this series. If we play the game right, like we did against Prior and Wood, and if Pavano pitches a decent game, we should be right there at the end of the game. If we are clueless at the plate like the past two nights, we may as well just stay home, cause we're not going to win that way.
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