First of all six games one start yes. But do we know if it is suspended without pay or how that will work. Also it shakes up the entire sox rotation a bit because they dont have their number one pitcher.

I will admit it was a long stretch trying to keep Figgins close on base but he is a fast runner so why not do a couple of looks.

Secondly the ball was going to be high and inside from the start Jason Varitek was set up there so Beckett was maybe trying to back him off the plate, a legitimate play in baseball. But if you watch the pitch closely the path of the ball was off which means Beckett tried to make an adjustment and it happened to almost hit Abreu.

Third, did anyone else see how the umpires handled the situation? They were all facing the angels and talking to them and looked like instigating some conversation/yelling with the players that resulted in Torii Hunter being ejected. If im an angels fan im pissed! As a baseball fan I am irked. I believe hunter didnt warrant an ejection he was defending his teammate and had all rights to do so. Especially right now because the Angels have been on an emotional roller coaster and if anyone messes with them I believe they are dead meat because of the unfortunate and heart breaking situation of Nick Adenhart.

Fourth, Hunter and a pitching coach and i believe one more got suspended one game for the “fracas” if you will call it that. That is almost worse than the six games.

Final point. As things calmed down the umpires (after ejecting Hunter) rationally talked it out and decided to leave Beckett in there and im sure gave him a warning, Fair. Now what did MLB see that the umpires did not? Are they now the official rulings of the game? I thought thats what the boys in blue were supposed to do. If MLB can override situations like this are we in for more unnecessary interventions. Had punches been thrown or anything of the sort then of course officials please instill punishment. But if you are going to step in make sure its consistent with what happened because both sides got a war end from a pretty harmless situation.

I believe this was all handled wrong and Bud just gave us more reasons to chastise and criticize his old sorry butt.

As you can tell im pretty fired up about this subject, but it is not solely on the basis that Beckett is suspended six games, but for how the situation was handled and went down. Batters almost getting hit is a part of baseball you see it every day (ask Craig Biggio) and so are wild pitches. If Bud doesn’t like this then I think he should choose another sport. I think since he is so familiar with steriods weightlifting would be a good fit.

There is my rant!

He had every right to finish his pitch. He did not have the right to throw a fastball at a guys head. I have watched Beckett pitch and his control is fine. He does not miss the catcher’s glove by over a yard on a regular basis.

If he is so worried about preventing injury than throw a upper 70’s pitch in that situation, like he would to warm up before the inning. Not a 94 mph fastball.

That is a potentially lethal move by Beckett. If he had landed that pitch I would have said arrest him.

Beckett was the jerk who took 12 seconds from getting set on the mound to delivering a pitch. Kudos to Bud on this one. He got it right.