Red Sox-Tigers: Beckett Terrific in 8-2 Win

Who has been the best pitcher in baseball this season? While cases could be made for Roy Halladay, Johan Santana and Tim Lincecum, the fact of the matter is that Halladay is pitching in Toronto (where there hasn’t been a pennant race in more than a decade), while Santana and Lincecum are doing their thing in the National League (which is like pitching Four-A ball—it's better than Triple-A but not quite the quality of competition as found in the American League). For my money, the best pitcher in baseball this season has been Josh Beckett…and last night he again demonstrated why he is atop the short list of the best in the game. The staff ace pitched seven solid innings in leading the Red Sox to an 8-2 win over the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers. He allowed two runs on three hits while issuing one walk. He struck out six. He allowed solo home runs to Carlos Guillen (fifth inning) and Marcus Thames (seventh inning), otherwise only a fourth-inning walk to Clet...