Remember when the starting pitcher was usually the postseason story? Exactly 14 years ago, that was the case with Josh Beckett in Cleveland.
It was Oct. 18, 2007 and the Red Sox were one game away from elimination thanks to a 3-1 series deficit to the Indians. Up until that point, there was no arguing the Beckett was the guy the Red Sox wanted on the mound, having already turned in a complete game shutout against the Angels to kick off the ALDS, before holding Cleveland to two runs over six innings in the Sox’ only series win to that point.
But a few things were standing in the way of the kind of starting pitching heroics that seem to be a thing of the past. For starters, he was going up against the eventual American League Cy Young Award winner that season, CC Sabathia. (Beckett finished second to Sabathia, but in his conversation with WEEI.com Monday said, “They had CC. I don’t know about now, but he probably would have traded that Cy Young for a ring. I’m happy. He would trade is Cy Young or a ring, but I wouldn’t trade my ring for a Cy Young.”)
Another potential distraction? Beckett’s ex-girlfriend.
With Taylor Swift unable to perform the National Anthem as planned, the Indians called on a young country music performer named Danielle Peck. It just so happened that Peck had dated Beckett, a “coincidence” the Indians denied knowing about.
“My buddy, Jason, called me and said, ‘Hey man, I just want to give you a head’s up.’ Quite frankly, at that point in time my anxiety was so crazy,” Beckett said in a Monday phone conversation. “I just got anxiety until the first pitch. That’s what people ask, am I nervous? I don’t think it’s nerves. I think it’s just anxiety because you don’t know how you’re going to feel, you don’t know how you’re going to do. You don’t even know if you do good, if you are actually doing well. There are so many things out of your control. So, my anxiety was already through the roof.
“I wasn’t worried about seeing Danielle Peck. We didn’t make a big deal of that at all. The only thing I was worried about was that my girlfriend was there, my ex-girlfriend was singing the National Anthem … I didn’t even know. Jason told me and that was the first I heard of it. I’m warming up, she is singing the Anthem and I turned to (then-pitching coach) John Farrell and said, ‘I just want you to know, I broke up with her.’ That happened. None of the stuff bothered me. I pitched good there in that game.”
Beckett, in fact, pitched one of the most memorable games of his career.
The righty allowed one run over eight innings, striking out 11 and walking just one in what would ultimately turn into a series-altering 7-1 Red Sox win. (“I think Grady Sizemore hit a blooper down the line and then I gave up another hit and then I think it was cancel Christmas from there,” he remembered of the lone Cleveland run.)
Along the way, Beckett had plenty of memorable moments while throwing 109 pitches, including a brief shouting match with Cleveland’s Kenny Lofton, and having to stare down at Peck one more time while she sang “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.
“I don’t know how John Farrell felt, but if I was the pitching coach and my pitcher said that to me in the bullpen and I came back, I would have probably told the manager, ‘Hey, everything is going to be just fine.’ You’ve got your guy. I was the guy at that time,” Beckett said.
As for Peck, he said, “I think we texted two days later, just like, ‘Hey, hope you’re well.’ Nothing crazy. That was a good thing for her at the time. She wasn’t exactly a budding star at time. Like a lot of musicians are, she was struggling at the time. So for here to get to sing - I know it wasn’t the World Series - but, (expletive), I thought it was a good thing for her.”
Everybody won … except the team that decided to have Beckett’s ex-girlfriend sing the National Anthem.