Josh Beckett, age 25

In 2005, new Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett achieved career highs in wins (15), innings pitched (178), strikeouts (166), games started (29), and complete games (2). If those numbers don’t conjure up images of the second coming of Roger Clemens, digest this fact. He’s only 25.

For those of you keeping track of these things, that makes Beckett the same age as Boston Red Sox rookie Jonathan Papelbon (also born in 1980). And if you’re one who plays the market and believes in trends and buying low and selling high, this would seem to be a stock on the rise. Case in point, Beckett’s numbers have improved every year since breaking in with the Florida Marlins.

Still, for what we gave up (Hanley Ramirez) and the dead weight we took on (Mike Lowell), you’d like better odds than a guy who won the same number of games as David Wells last year. But if Wells was 25 and coming off a season like that, there’s no way the Boston Red Sox would consider trading him.

So, hang tight, Red Sox Nation and let this one play out. Those career best numbers leave an awful lot of room for improvement for a guy with Beckett’s kind of stuff.

Boston Red Sox a 10

For those of you who don’t agree with some of the off-season trades and non-signings, you’re probably wondering where the “10” comes from. By all counts, there’s a minimum of 10 new faces on the Boston Red Sox 40-man roster of players who could/will make a major impact on this year’s club.

Rather than wait for the season to begin, the Stat Man thought a preview of all these new faces might make the weeks leading up to spring training go a tad faster. Hey, it sure beats following the sale of Manny’s condo at the Ritz.

Stay tuned for the Stat Man’s first pitch of the 2006 season…

For the rest of SoxAppeal go to www.soxappeal.org

New York Yankees 1, Boston Red Sox 0

Yes, the Stat Man watched the same game as you yesterday. Yet once Cleveland lost and the game’s meaning went bye-bye for the Bronx Bombers, only one score mattered. And that was the final score of a game played last month in Yankee Stadium when Randy Johnson “out dueled” Tim Wakefield 1-0.

That game was decided by a home run by Jason Giambi, admitted steroid user. He hit said home run off his front foot, badly fooled by a rare Wakefield curveball, and with one hand on the bat. The ball barely cleared Yankee Stadium’s version of Pesky’s Pole some 314 feet away. Nuff said. If Major League Baseball had a genuine steroid policy, the Boston Red Sox probably would have finished one game ahead of the New York Yankees, clinching their first AL East title championship since 1995.

We won’t even get into the contributions of the Yankees’ other cheater, Gary Sheffield. The numbers he and Giambi put up this year make Commissioner Bud Selig’s attempts at a steroid policy a joke. Especially after Giambi can suffer through a miserable season last year without the help, then all of a sudden get it back this year. Can you say human growth hormone?

The 2005 season will go down as one of major embarrassment and shame for the national pastime. Canseco’s book. Hearings before Congress. Raffy’s finger. McGuire only talking about the future. And Bonds not being able to take the field until September because, without help, his body couldn’t heal that quickly. Now, the Yankees winning the AL East largely because an admitted user somehow regained his strength.

The Commissioner really must take a long hard look at his steroid policy. Ten games? Is the strength a cheater builds up completely gone after 10 games? Can you really test players without a taking a blood sample directly from the horse’s mouth, er, player’s vein? We all know the answers to those questions. And the only real solution is to suspend anybody who fails a blood test for unprescribed steroid and human growth hormones for one entire year. Period.

Sure, the Red Sox made the wild card and, in the grand scheme, winning your division doesn’t count for a whole heck of a lot. But when the game has been tainted to the extent that Major League Baseball has, it’s time for some outrage. Even for somebody like yours truly who plays by the numbers.

Sox’ longest winning streak is 8

What’s the significance of the eight-game run the Red Sox put together at the end of July, early August? Nothing, other than they will probably have to match it to take the AL East.

Presently, the Sox are riding a three-game streak. But with the hapless Orioles hosting the Yankees for four games this week, it’s going to be near impossible for the Red Sox to put any separation between them and the Bronx Bombers.

Therefore, the only real option for the Old Towne Team looks like a Belichikian run of the table, at least through Saturday, October 1. And that would tie their longest winning streak of the year and clinch the AL East.

Short of that, keep an eye on Chicago-Cleveland this week. If the Tribe stays hot and Chicago folds, we could backdoor our way into the playoffs via the wild card. It may not be the honorable way to go, but who really cares if you make the final tournament.

Red Sox 31-30 against upcoming opponents

It’s gut check time, Red Sox Nation. Heading into the final few weeks of the season, the Red Sox are going to have to do something they haven’t done consistently all season: beat AL East opponents.

The Sox “boast” a 31-30 record against the teams remaining on the schedule, breaking down like this:

* Yankees – 7-9
* Devil Rays – 12-4
* Orioles – 7-8
* Blue Jays – 5-9

Conversely, the Yankees, the team in hot pursuit of the Boston Red Sox, have fared a bit better against their final opponents, which don’t include the Tamp Bay Devil Rays. Here’s the Yankees record against the remaining AL East teams:

* Orioles – 4-6
* Blue Jays – 10-4
* Red Sox – 9-7

Eight of the Yankees remaining games are against Baltimore, the only team they have a losing record against. Even that’s a bit hollow since most of those losses came early in the season when the Orioles held first place.

On paper, you’d have to say our Red Sox are in trouble. Thankfully, as we all know from the last few years, it’s only the games you play on the field that count.

Four with 10 or more

For the fourth consecutive season, the Boston Red Sox have four starters with more than 10 victories (Tim Wakefield 15-10, Matt Clement 13-4, Bronson Arroyo 12-9, and David Wells 12-7).

To give you some perspective on the rarity of this accomplishment, the Boston Red Sox accomplished this feat only twice during the 1990s. And one of those years was not 1995, when the Boston Red Sox last won a division crown.

The reappearance of Curt Schilling in the starting rotation makes this stat even more compelling. Big Schill possibly has four more starts and if he wins them all, that would make five starting pitchers with 10 or more victories. And that has not happened since 1978 (Dennis Eckersley 20-8, Mike Torrez 16-13, Luis Tiant 13-8, Bill Lee 10-10, and Bob Stanley 15-2).

Don’t expect that one to happen. It says here the Sox clinch well before the last weekend of the season and save Schilling for the opener.

Ron Guidry went 25-3 in 1978

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Stat Man thought it better to address a Cajun that only destroyed batters: Ron Guidry.

The New York Yankees ace during the 1978 season, Guidry, the pride of Lafayette, Louisiana, went 25-3 with an ERA of 1.74. Even more impressive, he threw a now unheard of 16 complete games, nine of those shutouts.

As a young Boston Red Sox fan, there was nothing on earth more dejecting than battling Guidry’s 90+ mph fastball—and a slider he threw almost as hard--for seven or eight innings, only to have the Yankees bring in Goose Gossage. He only threw about 98 mph.

So, as the Boston Red Sox head toward the stretch run, let’s be grateful that all we have to worry about is an over-the-hill Randy Johnson. If the New York Yankees had a Guidry, we would be looking at an entirely different race.