Beckett Shines in his Opener...

Great article from Boston Globe.. beautiful.

Gonna be a great year for the Red Sox.. I can feel it.. somehow in spite of everything.

So...how does it feel to know I can do this without you big boy... ya created a monster :)

Beckett and Papelbon fire up Sox
Flamethrowers snuff out Texas
By Chris Snow, Globe Staff | April 6, 2006

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Slender Michael Young, the 2005 American League batting champion, hoped he'd checked his swing on one of those devastating 95-mile-per-hour Josh Beckett fastballs.

The Rangers' shortstop, with two outs in the Texas seventh, did his best sell, holding his bat where he'd like to think he'd finished his swing. But Beckett, who had told pitching coach Al Nipper earlier in the night that he was good for 110 pitches, wasn't buying it. So he appealed to the masked man behind the plate, Bruce Dreckman, who obliged, checking with first base umpire Ed Hickox. And Beckett got what he wanted. The punchout signal, on his 109th pitch.

''That was about all I had," Beckett said after last night's 2-1 win, ''that last pitch."

Beckett, all arm and energy last night, responded with a motion similar to Hickox's, though significantly far more vociferous. He took a step, stopped, and pumped his fist hard, yelling, like it was October in New York, rather than April 5 in Texas.

Nearing the dugout steps, where Curt Schilling had the excitement of an 11-year-old boy who'd found a playmate exactly like himself, Beckett paused and did something rather Schilling-like. He turned, cupped his glove next to his mouth to help the sound travel, and yelled to Hickox. It took a couple attempts, before Hickox, cracking a smile, turned to Beckett. Thanks, he said. Or something like that.

''I love that [stuff]," David Ortiz said of Beckett's raw emotion. ''People in Boston are going to have fun with this guy. I think we've got two Curt Schillings."

Beckett, in his American Legue debut, in his home state (he's a native of Spring, Texas, four hours south of here), had reason to be jacked up. After a shaky 23-pitch, three-hit, one-run, one-wild-pitch first inning, Beckett looked likely to be on the hook for an ''L," despite hanging zeros the rest of the way. Through six innings, the scoreboard high above the second porch in right at Ameriquest Field read:

BOSTON 000 000

TEXAS 100 000