Projo Sox Blog

BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett was back on the mound Friday afternoon for his second start of the Grapefruit League exhibition season.

He looked sharp once again and extended his work load in a 5-3 victory over the Florida Marlins at City of Palms Park. The right-hander worked three scoreless innings and allowed only one hit on 45 pitches (31 strikes) and struck out two.

"That's a good day for him," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "He had a good fastball and he threw some real good breaking balls. He looked strong. And the fact he wanted to go back out is a good sign."

"I didn't realize I had 45 pitches," Beckett said. "I wasn't really counting, but I didn't think I had that many. I asked Tito if I could go one more and he told me how many pitches I threw, which is about what they wanted me to throw. You'd like to go three-up, three-down every time but that's not realistic when you're facing these kinds of hitters."

Because this spring training is longer than most years due to the World Baseball Classic, Beckett will make a few more starts so he doesn't want to pump himself up too much this early. Still, it appeared he was ramping it up Friday afternoon.

"I felt good today," he said. "When you go into those games sometimes, especially in the first inning, it's always been a problem for me whenever I have a lot of energy I have to harness it and remember the things I need to do on those days. I try to keep reminding myself that less is more. It will be easier to locate the ball if I don't try as hard. Sometimes it's tough for me because I do consider myself a max-effort guy. There's not a whole lot pitches I have ever thrown that I went 80 percent at."

Friday afternoon was the first time Jason Varitek has caught Beckett in a game this spring, and the Sox' captain was pleased with what he saw.

"I can't speak for him, but when he came out I think he felt pretty good about himself," said Varitek. "Things started off rough for him last year when he got hurt in the spring and he had to play catch up ever since. We look forward to having a healthy Josh."

In three outings this spring, including his first against Boston College, Beckett has worked seven scoreless innings. He's allowed only one hit and has four strikeouts.

 Tags  Josh Beckett Red Sox spring training

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