Josh Beckett pitched in two World Series, and while he wasn’t unhittable, he had a few great starts. Beckett was named the MVP of the 2003 World Series with the Marlins after pitching 16 ⅓ innings across two starts to beat the New York Yankees.
He was then named the ALCS MVP in 2007 en route to the Red Sox’ championship. Beckett pitched well in that World Series, too, throwing seven one-run innings against the Colorado Rockies. In total, Beckett allowed just 14 hits and three runs across 23 ⅓ innings in the World Series in his career.
Beckett was a part of a few teams that defied the odds and answered back throughout his career. He also threw a no-hitter in Philadelphia as a member of the Dodgers in his final season in 2014.
Beckett joined the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and talked about why the Astros’ Game 4 no-hitter was one of the best bounce-back games he’s ever seen.
“That was impressive. They needed that,” Beckett said (1:30 in player above). “After (Tuesday) night, I know Lance McCullers and I know he took that really bad but then answered the questions really well. I texted with Lance (Tuesday) night and I know how much that hurt him. I know he knows that he was tipping his pitches even though the way he answered the questions was not – he answered the questions properly, how you’re supposed to answer questions. He took the blame and it sucked for him.”
Beckett is from the Houston area and was a TV analyst for the Astros in 2017. That was during McCullers’ worst statistical season of his career thus far – it was the only season in which McCullers had an ERA above 3.93 when he went 7-4 with a 4.25 ERA.
“It’s one of the worst-looking postseason starts ever, but then the Astros needed to answer and they did this,” Beckett continued. “Talk about the all-time greatest answer. How do you come back from (Tuesday) night? Kevin Millar texted me (Wednesday) morning, it was a kick in the mouth.”
There was talk about McCullers tipping his pitches, as Beckett mentioned, and the Phillies jumped all over him for five home runs in a 7-0 victory in Game 3. The Astros needed to answer back in Game 4 and they did in a big way with only the second no-hitter in World Series history.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around why this happened to Lance, but I’m telling you this is the all-time greatest answer I’ve ever seen,” Beckett said. “It was unbelievable.”
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