Really quick before head off into WEEI-land for the next five hours.
Here is the story that ran in today’s Eagle-Tribune. It touches on the personal side of Josh Beckett and the challenges he went through last season. Click here.
Here are some of the quotes:
FORT MYERS, Fla. – It is the 17th hole, the two foursomes are tied in their fight to the finish, and Jon Lester is on the tee box.
“Hey, Jonny,” shouts a nearby competitor. “You got a Spootenator?”
Lester steps away from his ball and looks at the member of his group with a quizzical stare. What was Josh Beckett talking about?
“You know, a Spootenator,” Beckett said, “the muscle that connects your heart to your guts.”
The term has been introduced to the Red Sox pitcher by a former teammate, Mike Mordecai, and seemed to fit Beckett’s vernacular perfectly.
If nothing else, it had become clear throughout the Texan’s career that his anatomy most certainly included a Spootenator. No X-rays were needed, just any film of his Game 6 complete game for the champion Florida Marlins in the 2003 World Series would do.
For Beckett, that muscle was never difficult to find. But the 26-year-old did discover something else recently which might mean even more in the long run – himself.
“I’m in a great place right now,” he said while sitting in the dugout at City of Palms Park prior to Boston’s final home spring training game last week. “People have noticed that I’m in a much better place this year. I don’t know if it is a matter of being more comfortable with the team as much as it is maybe being comfortable (with) me as a man.”
