Josh Beckett looked like Josh Beckett yesterday. Kind of. It wasn't his most dominant start, but it was still a good outing. And it was certainly good enough to beat Mike Mussina.
Remember when the Yankees got Mussina? And seemingly in a panic, Duquette and the Sox signed Manny to a massive deal. Well now, 8 years later, how have those two signings panned out?
Manny's hit 256 HRs since becoming a Red Sock, and knocked in 811 runs. He's been named to 7 All-Star teams, won the 2004 Hank Aaron Award, won 6 Silver Sluggers, and won the 2002 batting title. Manny also has hit .321 in 9 playoff series with Boston, hit 11 post-season homeruns, knocked in 28 runs, and was the 2004 World Series MVP.
Mussina, on the other hand, is 103-65 with the Yankees, which averages out to a slightly mediocre record of 14-9 per year. He's also got a mediocre ERA of 3.95 with New York. He's never been to an All-Star as a Yankee, although he has won a pair of Gold Gloves. His mediocrity extends into October, as he's 5-7 in playoff baseball with the Yanks.
I think it's safe to say now that the Red Sox signing of Manny Ramirez has worked out much better than New York's signing of Mussina. We got Manny in his prime. They got Mussina in is decline.
And Manny was the big hero on Saturday, going 2 for 4 with a double, a homer, and 3 RBI (all coming with 2 outs). Manny's only hitting .277, but he's tied for 3rd in the AL with 11 RBI this season.
Beckett still has room for improvement, and eventually will return to being the Ace that he is. He wasn't bad against New York, just not great enough to win it by himself.
I don't know why some select people were worried about Jonathan Papelbon performing this season. The guy's been sick out of the gate. Yesterday was another difficult save, facing 4 batters, striking 3 of them out, getting the other to groundout. He got A-Rod, Giambi, Posada, and Cano. That's hard. Papelbon is averaging 2 Ks an inning.
Daiskue Matsuzaka looks to build on his strong starts tonight as he faces Phil Hughes in the rubber game.
Source:
ESPN.com
Baseball-Reference.com
Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson
Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images
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