At least in the first inning. I can remember only 2 occasions in the last 3 weeks where a Sox starter pitched a clean first inning and only a couple more than that where the opposition was held scoreless. Granted the starter has gotten in a groove and ended up pitching into the 5th, 6th or later innings in all those games, but putting your team in a hole like that is not a great way to start the game off, especially when your missing key offensive guys like Nixon and Varitek. I was tempted to point to the lack of Varitekish preparation, but this trend started before his injury. It comes down to not making the pitches when needed.
Beckett talked last night in the post game interview about his theory of pitching. He said he thinks that basically the difference in any game is 5 key pitches. You make the good pitch in those 5 situations and you win the game, you don't and you lose. He pointed to 3 of the five key situation last night where he didn't make the pitch he needed to. So it's not that their not thinking about it, it's not they don't have a plan, and it's not lack of prep. It comes down to lack of execution.
If they don't start executing soon, it will be along September and short October......
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